.  7.'- 


! 

$3* 

PRINCETON,  N.  J. 

; 

Shelf 

BX  8080  .M6  A3 
Morris,  John  G.  1803-1895. 
Life  reminiscences  of  an  olc 
Lutheran  minister 

/&.. 


LIFE  REMINISCENCES 


OF  AN 


OLD  LUTHERAN  MINISTER. 


by 


JOHN  Q.  MORRIS,  D.  D. 


PHILADELPHIA  : 
LUTHERAN  PUBLICATION  SOCIETY. 


I  here  retrace 
(As  in  a  map  the  voyager  his  course,) 
The  windings  of  my  way  thro'  many  years. 

Cowper. 

Hoc  est 
Vivere  bis,  vita  posse  priori  frui. 

Martial. 

Student.— How  does  this  book  begin,  go  on  and  end? 
Tertius.— It  has  a  plan,  but  no  plot:  life  has  none. 

"  Posterity  is  always  rond  of  details." 


Copyright,  1896. 

BY  THE 
LUTHERAN  PUBLICATION  SOCIETY. 


CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Preface 5 

CHAPTER  I. 
Birth — Parents— Col.  Armand — Interesting  Documents — 
Early  School  Days — Teachers  in  York  County  Academy — 
Early  Religious  Impressions — Early  Reading— Music — 
Village  Soldiering— German  and  French — York  Fairs 
and  Battalion  Days — Training  of  Boys 7 

CHAPTER  II. 
Student  Life  at  Princeton  and  Dickinson  Colleges   ....      25 

CHAPTER  III. 
Student   Life   at  New   Market,    Va.,    Nazareth,    Pa.,    and 
Princeton  Seminary,  1823-1825 — The  General  Synod  at 
Frederick,  Md.,  in  1825 51 

CHAPTER  IV. 
Licensed  to  Preach— Gettysburg  Seminary 85 

CHAPTER  V. 
Call  to  Baltimore,  and  Pastoral  Life ;  1827  to  i860   ....      97 

CHAPTER  VI. 
Early  History  of  the   "Lutheran  Observer" 149 

CHAPTER  VII. 
Scientific  Studies  and  Offices 166 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

Resignation  as  Pastor — Librarian  of  the  Peabody  Institute.  176 

(in) 


IV  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

CHAPTER  IX. 

Summer  Residence  at  Lutherville — Lectures  and  Readings.   188 

CHAPTER  X. 
Church  Correspondence 205 

CHAPTER  XI. 
The  Diets,  and  Academy  of  Lutheran  Church  History  in 
America— Answers  to  Questions — Ministers'  League — 
Preaching  in  Strange  Pulpits— Good  Advice  from  Mem- 
bers— Evangelical  Alliance — Flieduer,  of  Kaiserwerth — 
Consubstantiatiou 223 

CHAPTER  XII. 
Church  Miscellanea :  Style  of  Preaching  in  Our  Church — 
Argument  for  Study —  State  of  Theology —  Progress  — 
D.  D.  in  Our  Church— Catechisatiou— Pastoral  Visiting — 
Luther  Memorial  Meetings  in  1883 — Change  of  Views  on 
Lutheran  Theology — Election  of  Professors — Collecting 
Funds  for  the  Seminary — The  Luther  Statuette 265 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

General  Miscellany  :  Jenny  Lmd — Excursions — Private 
Libraries — The  Rebellion — Giving  Offence  Unintention- 
ally— Kostlin's  Life  of  Luther — Bad  Treatment — House 
Robbed— Curious  Wedding  Event  —  Kossuth  in  Balti- 
more— List  of  Lutheran  Publications —Visits  of  For- 
eigners  316 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

Offices  Held  — Published  Writings  and  Manuscripts— Papers 
Read  Before  Historical  Societies  in  Maryland — Learned 
Societies 351 

CHAPTER  XV. 

Last  Days — Sickness — Death — Burial — Resolutions,  etc.   .     361 


PREFACE 


An  autobiography  is  not  the  most  popular  style 
of  writing,  and  it  has  even  been  said  that  some 
men  write  the  history  of  their  own  lives  because 
nobody  else  will  do  it.  This  may  be  true  in  part, 
when  men  are  ambitious  of  notoriety  without  any 
merit ;  but  when  a  man  writes  for  his  own  amuse- 
ment and  that  of  his  immediate  friends,  it  is  a  whole- 
some recreation  from  severer  studies,  and  should  not 
offend  the  delicate  sensibility  of  any  one.  Men 
may  say  what  they  like ;  there  is  no  doubt  of  the 
fact  that  most  persons  prefer  reading  a  candid 
man's  account  of  himself  rather  than  that  furnished 
by  any  one  else. 

I  have  nothing  very  remarkable  to  relate  con- 
cerning myself,  yet  that  which  concerns  me  may 
hereafter  be  interesting  to  those  immediately  con- 
nected with  me,  and  some  of  the  facts  which  I  shall 
state  may  perhaps  be  of  some  interest  to  those  out- 
side of  my  circle  of  friends,   if  they  should   ever 

(v) 


VI  PREFACE. 

have  an  opportunity  or  desire  of  reading  these 
pages. 

Many  little  incidents  which  would  properly  be- 
long here  are  recalled  in  my  "  Fifty  Years,"  and 
I  did  not  wish  to  repeat  them  by  transferring  them 
to  this  book.  Indeed,  that  whole  volume  may  be 
regarded  as  one  of  "  Reminiscences,"  only  not 
quite  as  personal  as  this  one.  This  is  more  private 
and  professional;  that,  more  public  and  historical. 
This  is  intended  for  my  family  and  special  friends ; 
that,  for  anybody  who  will  take  the  trouble  to 
read  it. 

It  has  been  my  pleasure  for  many  years  to  jot 
down  everything  of  this  character  as  it  occurred  to 
me,  and  then  enlarging  upon  the  same  facts  at  ir- 
regular intervals  and  adding  others,  so  that  repeti- 
tions may  be  observed,  and  possibly  contradictions. 

If  the  whole  had  been  written  continuously  such 

imperfections  might  have  been  avoided,  but  I  have 

not  taken  much  pains  to  remove  them  from  these 

pages. 

The  Author. 
Baltimore,  1895, 


CHAPTER  I. 

BIRTH— PARENTS— COL.  ARMAND— INTERESTING  DOCUMENTS 
—  EARLY  SCHOOL  DAYS— TEACHERS  IN  YORK  COUNTY  ACAD- 
EMY— EARLY  RELIGIOUS  IMPRESSIONS— EARLY  READING — 
MUSIC— VILLAGE  SOLDIERING  —  GERMAN  AND  FRENCH  — 
YORK  FAIRS  AxJD  BATTALION  DAYS — TRAINING  OF  BOYS. 

I  have  abundant  leisure  at  present,  and  have  been 
fond  of  scribbling  all  my  life.  The  six  quarto  vol- 
umes of  my  own  newspaper  articles,  and  numerous 
manuscripts  which  I  have  carefully  preserved,  will 
give  full  evidence  of  this  propensity.  I  have  amused 
myself  for  many  years  by  jotting  down  these  remi- 
niscences for  my  own  gratification  and  that  of  my 
family  and  other  friends  who  may  take  the  trouble 
of  reading  them,  if  they  should  ever  appear  in  print. 
If  they  serve  no  other  purpose,  they  may  perhaps 
throw  some  light  upon  the  inner  history  of  one  sec- 
tion of  our  Church  during  the  transition  period  in 
which  I  have  lived,  and  with  which  I  was  more  or 
less  closely  associated. 

I  was  born  in  York,  Pa.,  on  November  14,  1803. 
My  father  was  Dr.  John  Morris,  who  settled  in 
that  town  when  the  Legion  of  the  Revolutionary 
army  to  which  he  belonged  was  disbanded  in  that 
place  in  1783.     He  served  as  surgeon's  mate  during 

(7) 


8  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

the  war,  and  was  commissioned  as  surgeon  some 
time  during  its  progress.  From  a  fragmentary  diary 
of  his  in  my  possession  it  appears  that  he  came  to 
this  country  in  1776  from  Rintelm,  a  village  in  the 
Duchy  of  Brunswick,  in  Germany,  and  as  he  says, 
11  I  immediately  joined  the  American  army."  This 
shows  that  he  did  not  come  over  with  the  Hessian 
troops  in  the  service  of  England  against  the  Ameri- 
can colonies,  but  as  an  independent  adventurer. 

He  was  assigned  to  duty  in  Col.  Armand's  Parti- 
zan  Legion,  and  participated  in  all  the  adventures 
of  that  corps  until  the  close  of  the  war.  His  Ger- 
man name  was  Moritz,  but  I  have  heard  my  mother 
say  that  he  was  advised  by  the  American  officers  to 
change  it  to  Morris,  so  that  if  he  should  be  taken 
prisoner  by  the  English  he  would  not  be  suspected 
of  being  a  Hessian  deserter  and  shot.  His  commis- 
sion as  full  surgeon,  signed  by  B.  Lincoln,  Secre- 
tary at  War,  and  by  Elias  Boudinot,  President  of 
the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  dated  Princeton, 
July  25,  1783,  is  still  in  my  possession.  I  have  also 
his  certificate  of  membership  of  "  The  Cincinnati," 
signed  by  George  Washington,  in  1783,  and  the 
diploma  of  the  society,  also  signed  by  Washington, 
at  Mount  Vernon,  October  31,  1785.  Being  the 
only  survivor  of  our  family,  this  diploma  entitles 
me  to  membership,  but  I  have  never  availed  myself 
of  the  privilege.  These  documents,  however,  have 
secured  me  membership  in  the  *■ '  Society  of  the  Sons 
of  the  American  Revolution,"  and  they  have  been 
of  benefit  in  other  ways. 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  9 

Various  other  papers,  diaries  and  letters  of  Revo- 
lutionary interest,  mostly  written  by  my  father,  have 
become  my  property,  and  are  sacredly  cherished. 
Among  them  is  a  highly  complimentary  letter  from 
Col.  Armand  (Marquis  de  la  Rouerie),  dated  York, 
November  25,  1783,  of  which  I  here  give  a  literal 
copy  from  the  original. 

(Copy.) 

York,  November  25,  1783. 
Dr.  John  Morris, 

Sir, — At  the  instant  the  Legion  is  disbanded,  it  becomes  my 
duty  to  'give  you  my  thanks  for  the  attention,  cares,  intelli- 
gence, propriety  with  which  you  conducted  yourself  in  both 
capacity  of  second  and  first  surgeon  to  the  first  partizan  legion 
under  my  command.  I  cannot  be  silent  on  the  bravery  which 
you  evidenced  on  all  occasions  when  you  accompanied  the 
legion  to  the  enemy.  I  shall  add  that  your  conduct  in  general 
has  merited  and  obtained  the  esteem  and  attachment  ol  all  the 
officers.  I  am  happy  in  this  opportunity  to  express  myself 
those  sentiments  for  you.  I  have  the  honor  to  be,  Dr.  Sir,  your 
most  obedient,  humble  servant, 

ARMAND,  MARQUIS  DE  LA  ROUERIE. 

When  the  Legion  was  ordered  to  York  for  disband- 
ment,  my  father  there  met  Barbara  Myers,  whom 
he  married,  and  of  whom  I  am  the  youngest  child. 

I  have  no  recollection  of  my  father,  he  having  died 
in  1808,  but  my  mother  lived  until  1837.  He  settled 
in  York,  after  his  honorable  discharge  from  the 
army,  and  remained  there  all  his  subsequent  life. 
He  once  made  a  tour  to  what  is  now  Tuscarawas 
county,  Ohio,  then  a  region  almost  uninhabited  by 


IO  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

civilized  people,  and  regarded  as  a  very  long  and 
perilous  journey  from  York.  He  went  for  the  pur- 
pose of  inspecting  some  bounty  lands  received  from 
the  government  for  military  services,  and  also  of 
settling  there  if  prospects  were  favorable.  But  on 
his  return  from  this  tour  my  mother  informed  me 
that  before  he  dismounted  from  his  horse  he  said, 
"  Child,  we  will  stay  at  home." 

His  practice  was  extensive,  and  he  was  the  only 
educated  physician  in  York  county  for  some  years. 
To  accommodate  patients  from  a  distance,  and  who 
were  able  to  pay  well  for  his  services,  he  set  apart 
three  or  four  rooms  as  a  hospital  in  his  house,  which 
he  built  of  brick,  in  which  all  his  children  were  born. 
It  is  still  standing,  on  the  south  side  of  Market  street, 
between  Beaver  and  Water  streets,  nearly  opposite 
Dr.  Jacob  Hay's  residence. 

His  diaries  show  that  he  was  a  truly  pious  man. 
They  are  filled  with  prayers,  meditations,  Scripture 
quotations,  and  among  them  is  a  very  creditable 
German  poetical  eulogy  on  Rev.  Jacob  Goering, 
who  baptized  me,  and  who  died  in  1807.  His  biog- 
raphy was  written  by  Rev.  Dr.  Chas.  A.  Hay  in 
1887,  and  published  by  our  Publication  Board  in 
Philadelphia. 

My  mother  was  one  of  the  most  saintly  women  I 
ever  knew  She  was.  a  diligent  and  daily  reader  of 
the  Scriptures,  and  of  pious  German  books  popular 
among  good  people  of  those  times.  She  never  pur- 
posely  neglected   public   worship,    and    had    daily 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  II 

prayers  in  the  family  as  far  back  as  I  can  remember. 
Under  God  he*r  maternal  teachings  and  prayers  and 
blameless  example  have  influenced  my  whole  life. 

I  have  heard  it  said  by  some  who  knew  my  mother 
in  the  days  of  her  young  womanhood  that  she  was 
remarkably  handsome,  and  I  myself  used  to  gaze 
with  the  proudest  admiration  upon  her  clearly-cut, 
classical  side  face.  I  never  saw  one  more  symmet- 
rical, or  one  that  came  nearer  to  the  artistic  ideal  of 
feminine  beauty,  and  she  was  as  good  as  beautiful. 

The  only  children  of  the  seven  born  to  my  parents 
who  were  ever  known  to  me  were  my  brother  Charles, 
whose  name  will  frequently  recur  in  these  reminis- 
cences, and  my  brother  George,  who  died  unmar- 
ried in  York  in  1856.  I  was  the  youngest  of  the 
family.  AH  the  rest,  except  Charles  and  George, 
died  before  I  was  born. 

The  first  school  I  ever  attended  was  taught  by  an 
old  man  named  Miller.  It  was  kept  in  a  small 
building  behind  Mr.  Schmucker's  church,  and  was, 
I  suppose,  the  parochial  school.  I  could  not  have 
been  over  eight  years  old,  and  I  do  not  remember 
how  long  I  was  a  pupil  there,  neither  do  I  remember 
when  I  was  transferred  to  the  York  County  Academy, 
but  it  must  have  been  at  a  very  early  age.  My 
brother  Charles  taught  me  my  first  arithmetic,  and 
I  have  not  forgotten  the  boyish  fun  I  tried  to  make 
out  of  ' '  carrying  ' '  the  amount  of  one  column  of 
figures  to  another.  He  bore  with  my  nonsense  for 
a  while,  but  soon  had  enough  of  it.     Michael  Bentz, 


12  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

who  will  "be  remembered  in  York,  must  have  gone 
there  as  parish  schoolmaster  and  church  preceptor 
at  an  early  period,  for  I  went  to  his  night  school, 
kept  in  the  small  building  behind  the  church,  when 
I  was  very  young.  All  the  other  pupils  were  older 
than  I.  His  discipline  was  not  rigid,  for  when  one 
of  these  lads  was  rebuked  for  carelessness,  or  pun- 
ished in  any  way,  he  would  take  his  hat  and  walk 
out,  and  that  was  the  end  of  it. 

I  began  Latin  and  Greek  in  the  York  County 
Academy  under  the  tuition  of  two  New  England 
teachers  named  Merrill.  They  were  very  imperfect 
linguists,  and  allowed  us  to  do  as  we  pleased,  and 
we  made  no  progress  until  Samuel  Bacon,  in  many 
respects  a  very  remarkable  man,  and  a  man  named 
White,  took  charge  of  the  school.  These  two  men 
served  at  different  times,  and  I  was  a  pupil  under 
each. 

Mr.  Samuel  Bacon  came  to  York  as  a  Yankee 
schoolmaster,  and  after  having  taught  several  years 
joined  the  army  as  a  commissioned  officer.  He  was 
wounded  in  a  duel  with  another  officer ;  some  time 
after  he  resigned  and  returned  to  York,  where  he 
studied  law  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  and  mar- 
ried the  daughter  of  Jacob  Barnitz,  Esq.,  one  of  the 
most  respectable  gentlemen  of  York.  Mr.  Bacon 
became  a  zealous  Christian,  and  officiated  as  a  lay 
preacher  in  the  Episcopal  church.  He  subsequently 
went  to  Africa,  and  founded  a  colony  of  colored 
emigrants,  and  may  be  regarded  as  the  originator, 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  1 3 

or  at  least  a  prime  mover  in  the  work  of  African 
colonization.  His  biography  was  written  by  a  New 
England  author. 

James  Steen  afterwards  became  teacher,  and 
under  him  I  made  some  progress.*  It  must  have 
been  in  1818  or  18 19  that  Samuel  S.  Schmucker, 
who  had  just  returned  from  the  University  of  Penn- 
sylvania, or  it  may  have  been  from  the  Theological 
Seminary  at  Princeton,  where  he  studied  some 
months,  took  charge  of  the  Academy,  and  under 
him  I  was  prepared  for  college.  I  need  hardly  state 
that  he  was  the  son  of*  the  venerated  Rev.  Dr.  John 
George  Schmucker,  at  that  time,  and  for  many  years 
after,  the  pastor  of  the  only  Lutheran  church  at  that 
time  in  York.  I  little  thought  that  in  less  than  ten 
years  after  I  would  commence  an  association  with  my 
schoolmaster  in  the  prosecution  of  most  of  our 
church  enterprises  of  the  last  fifty  years  or  more. 
He  must  have  been  about  twenty-one  at  that  time, 
and  was  looked  upon  as  a  promising  young  man. 
He  did  not  go  into  the  company  of  the  young  people 
of  the  town,  and  hence  he  was  not  a  favorite.  He 
was  studious,  and  loved  his  books  more  than  society. 
He  was  probably  the  best  educated  young  candidate 
for  our  ministry  of  those  days,  and  plainly  far  in 
advance  of  all  of  them  in  his  knowledge  of  English, 
and  in  ability  to  use  it  in  the  pulpit.  When  he  was 
licensed  to  preach  there  were  no  vacancies  in  Penn- 

*Thaddeus   Stevens,    about   this   time,    was  teacher  of  the 
Female  Department  of  the  Academy. 


14  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

sylvania,  and  the  present  system  of  Home  Missions 
and  individual  enterprise  was  unknown.  In  those 
days  candidates  were  few,  and  vacancies  fewer  still ; 
but  none  ever  thought  of  opening  a  way  for  himself, 
if  he  did  not  find  one.  Mr.  Schmucker  accepted  a 
call  from  New  Market,  Shenandoah  county,  Va.,  at 
that  time  a  poor,  forlorn,  half-anglicized  hamlet,  hut 
still  where  many  of  our  people  were  kind,  hospitable 
and  devoted  to  their  mother  church.  I  shall  have 
occasion  to  speak  of  this  place  again.  This  was  the 
only  pastoral  charge  Mr.  Schmucker  ever  had.  He 
remained  there  four  or  five  years,  until  called  to  be 
the  first  professor  of  the  Theological  Seminary  at 
Gettysburg  in  1825. 

Most  of  the  boys  of  what  may  be  called  the  first 
families  in  York  were  pupils  in  the  Academy  during 
my  time.  Two  of  them  became  members  of  Con- 
gress, five  or  six  were  lawyers  and  physicians,  and 
others  were  men  of  business,  and,  while  several  of 
them  became  good  citizens,  they  lacked  energy  and 
decision,  and  were  satisfied  with  living  a  humdrum, 
indolent  sort  of  life,  content  with  mediocrity  in  all 
things.  The  children  of  some  of  them  are  very  re- 
spectable people.  In  September,  1887,  the  hun- 
dredth anniversary  of  the  York  County  Academy 
was  celebrated.  I  was  invited  to  make  a  speech,  in 
which,  among  other  things,  I  said  that  I  was  proba- 
bly the  only  surviving  pupil  of  the  school  of  the 
period  preceding  1820,  when  I  left  it;  but  after  my 
address  an  old  gentleman,  whose  name  I  forget,  wTas 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  15 

introduced  to  me,  who  said  that  he  also  had  been  a 
pupil  before  1820.  I  gave  the  audience  a  number  of 
reminiscences,  and  mentioned  the  names  of  many  of 
my  school  contemporaries  and  acquaintances,  not  one 
of  whom  is  living,  but  many  of  whom  became  influ- 
ential citizens  and  reared  large  families.  I  am  the 
only  one  of  that  crowd  that  studied  for  the  Lutheran 
ministry. 

Some  of  the  boys  went  to  dancing  school,  but  my 
mother  would,  not  send  me,  neither  had  I  any  incli- 
nation that  way.  I  never  in  my  life  stood  upon  a 
floor  to  dance.  I  conceived  a  special  distaste  for 
this  amusement  when  I  saw  that  the  stupidest  boy 
in  our  school  was  the  best  dancer  in  the  company. 
I  had  no  ambition  to  learn  an  art  which  required  no 
brain,  and  nothing  but  agility  of  heel. 

A  few  of  the  boys  occasionally  used  profane  lan- 
guage, but  this  habit  I  never  indulged  in.  One  of 
them  tried  hard  to  get  the  rest  of  us  to  drink  liquor 
occasionally. 

I  remember  attending  a  prayer-meeting  on  Sun- 
day afternoon  for  some  weeks  at  the  Episcopal 
church,  then  served  by  Rev.  Mr.  Armstrong.  Sev- 
eral other  boys  also  went.  No  meeting  of  a  similar 
character  was  held  on  Sunday,  although  Rev.  Mr. 
Schmucker  for  many  years  had  one  in  the  old  school- 
house  behind  his  church  on  a  week  night,  which 
was  attended  by  a  dozen  or  two  old  pious  members. 

I  seldom  missed  Sunday  morning  church  from  my 
earliest  days,  although  I  then  understood  very  little 


1 6  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

of  the  German  sermon.  I  was  taught  this  duty  by 
my  pious  mother,  and  made  it  a  matter  of  conscience, 
although  I  felt  no  special  religious  interest  in  the 
service.  Perhaps  it  was  habit,  or  the  result  of 
domestic  training;  but  it  was  good,  whatever  may 
have  been  the  motive. 

One  Sunday  morning  a  boy,  five  or  six  years  older 
than  myself,  led  me  down  to  Loucks'  dam  to  fish, 
and  every  toll  of  the  bells  from  the  town  churches, 
which  I  heard  distinctly,  and  which  really  seemed 
louder  than  usual,  sent  a  pang  to  my  heart,  for  I 
was  consciously  neglecting  a  duty,  and  acting  con- 
trary to  my  mother's  wishes.  Even  to  this  day, 
whenever  I  pass  that  place  in  the  cars  to  Harris- 
burg,  the  recollection  of  that  Sunday  morning  comes 
up  painfully.  I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  I  feared 
offending  God  so  much  as  I  feared  wounding  my 
mother's  feelings,  if  she  had  known  it 

She  and  several  other  pious  women  used  to  hold  a 
prayer-meeting  in  her  house,  attended  by  not  over 
five  or  six.  I,  of  course,  was  always  present,  and 
took  a  boyish,  although  I  will  not  say  a  religious, 
pleasure  in  it.  I  was  then  about  thirteen  years  of 
age. 

At  a  very  early  age  I  acquired  a  fondness  for  read- 
ing plays  and  books  in  general.  Such  as  were  suitable 
to  boys  of  my  age  were  not  numerous.  My  brother 
George  had  a  collection  of  modern  plays,  and  these 
I  read  more  diligently  than  I  studied  my  school  les- 
sons.    I  once  ventured  upon  the  composition  of  a 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  17 

play,  but  laid  it  aside,  and  never  heard  of  it  until  I 
had  grown  tip,  when  one  of  my  brother's  friends 
told  me  how  he  had  showed  it  around,  and  what 
hearty  laughs  they  had  over  it. 

The  older  young  men  of  the  town  used  to  act 
plays  in  the  upper  room  of  the  old  court  house.  I 
once  had  a  subordinate  part  in  ' '  She  Stoops  to  Con- 
quer/' assigned  to  me  as  a  boy.  My  brother  George 
acted  Tony  Lumpkin  capitally  well. 

I  was  always  fond  of  spouting  scraps  of  poetry, 
many  of  which  I  had  committed  to  memory,  as  well 
as  some  larger  extracts  from  Shakespeare,  which  I 
can  recite  at  the  present  time,  although  I  have  for- 
gotten many  other  passages  which  I  committed  since 
those  juvenile  days.  Thus  I  began  very  early  what 
is  now  called  elocution  and  voice  culture. 

My  juvenile  reading  was  of  course  desultory.  We 
had  no  large  daily  papers  or  illustrated  weeklies  or 
monthlies.  Of  course  I  went  through  Sanford  and 
Merton,  Robinson  Crusoe,  Thaddeus  of  Warsaw, 
and  other  popular  books  of  that  character.  I  read 
novels  of  the  older  school,  for  the  modern  school 
had  not  yet  opened,  and  committed  passages  which, 
in  my  uneducated  taste,  I  thought  fine,  some  of 
which  I  can  repeat  at  present,  although  I  had  not 
a  good  memory.  Even  about  my  fifteenth  or  six- 
teenth year  I  ventured  on  Milton,  but  I  was  not  yet 
grown  up  to  it,  but  Goldsmith,  Boswell,  Cowper, 
and  other  English  authors  of  a  like  and  unlike  char- 
acter were  greedily  read.     I  found  Johnson's  prose 


l8  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

too  heavy  for  me,  excepting  his  Rasselas,  which  I 
gloated  over.  A  good  portion  of  Swift  was  gone 
through;  some  of  Addison,  Sterne  and  other  old 
English  writers,  and  some  of  later  years,  as  Pollock, 
Montgomery,  Kirkwhite,  Campbell  and  others.  I 
tried  Hume,  but  could  not  master  him,  and  Gibbon 
was  too  heavy. 

I  had  learned  German  well  enough  to  relish 
Kotzebue's  plays  and  others  of  that  school.  I  liked 
Gellert,  but  I  could  never  get  through  Klopstock's 
Messiah,  and  I  felt  disposed  to  take  off  my  hat  and 
beg  his  pardon  when,  some  years  after,  I  stood  at 
his  grave  in  Altoona,  Denmark. 

Later  on,  as  I  grew  up,  and  during  my  student 
years,  I  read  some  of  Scott's,  Cooper's,  Irving's, 
Dickens',  Thackeray's,  Macaulay's,  Disraeli's,  and 
many  other  novelists,  and  have  continued  to  culti- 
vate English  literature  to  a  small  extent  ever  since. 
I  once  sat  in  the  same  chair  at  Abbottsford  which, 
it  was  said,  Walter  Scott  occupied  whilst  writing 
many  of  his  books,  but  I  was  not  conscious  of  draw- 
ing any  of  his  inspiration  from  it.  Cook's  Voyages, 
Plutarch's  Lives,  Mungo  Park's  Travels,  Anarchar- 
sis,  and  a  number  of  other  travels  and  voyages  were 
read,  either  before  I  went  to  college  or  during  my 
college  years.  Goldsmith's  Animated  Nature,  a 
book  which  naturalists  now  laugh  at,  was  the  only 
book  on  that  subject  to  which  I  had  access  in  these 
remote  times,  and  it  was  perhaps  the  reading  of  this 
which  imparted  to  me  a  taste  for  studies  of  a  kindred 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  19 

character,  which  I  have  pursued  with  some  interest 
in  later  years. 

I  could  not  have  been  more  than  fourteen  years 
old  when  I  made  an  electrical  machine,  with  a  large 
bottle  for  a  cylinder,  and  astonished  my  companions 
and  others  with  plain  experiments.  I  got  tired  of 
the  affair,  and  have  never  since  had  any  especial 
fondness  for  physics,  and  that  is  because  I  had  never 
been  taught  it  at  school.  In  my  day  there  was  not 
a  single  article  of  apparatus  used  or  blackboard  illus- 
tration given.  It  was  the  ' '  day  of  small  things  ' '  in 
pedagogics  in  York  County  Academy,  but  wonder- 
ful improvements  have  been  made  since  those  times, 
and  some  good  scholars  have  received  their  first 
training  there. 

I  had  a  fair  voice  for  singing,  and  learned  "the 
notes  "  after  a  fashion.  I  took  lessons  on  the  flute, 
when  I  was  a  boy,  from  Michael  Bentz,  but  never 
played  well,  yet  he  put  me  in  the  "  York  County 
Band  "  before  I  was  fifteen.  I  abandoned  my 
musical  practice  when  I  went  to  college.  I  learned 
enough  of  vocal  music  to  ' '  raise  the  tunes  "  in  a 
religious  meeting.  For  years  I  "  led  "  the  singing 
in  my  week  night  meetings,  which  my  church  chor- 
ister did  not  feel  himself  bound  to  attend.  That 
minister  is  deficient  in  his  education,  however 
learned  he  may  be  otherwise,  who  cannot,  in  an 
emergency,  "  raise  the  tune  "  in  meetings,  and 
there  are  not  a  few  of  that  unhappy  class. 

We  boys  raised  a  soldier  company,  and  our  arms 


20  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

were  at  first  light  pikes  of  tin  attached  to  the  end  of 
a  long  staff,  but  afterwards  we  got  guns.  I  became 
quite  an  expert  in  the  manual  exercise  and  in  com- 
pany drill,  and  have  not  forgotten  it  to  this  day.  I 
also  practiced  sword  exercise  pretty  thoroughly,  and 
was  strongly  inspired  with  youthful  military  ardor. 
To  this  day  I  delight  in  looking  upon  military 
parades  and  hearing  martial  music,  and  I  involun- 
tarily catch  myself  in  closely  watching  and  criti- 
cising the  precision  of  movement  and  correctness  of 
step. 

Our  school  debating  society  was  vigorously  carried 
on  nearly  every  season,  but  like  all  juvenile  societies 
of  that  character  we  soon  quarreled  and  broke  up, 
to  be  renewed  with  the  same  results. 

One  of  my  boyish  recollections  is  seeing  the  York 
Volunteers,  composed  of  many  of  the  first- class 
young  men  of  the  town,  set  out  on  their  march  to 
Baltimore,  to  resist  the  invasion  of  the  British.  The 
company  took  part  in  the  battle  of  North  Point, 
September  12,  1812.  I  distinctly  remember  how  the 
mothers,  wives,  sisters  and  lady  friends  of  these  men 
wept  as  the  company  marched  out  of  town  to  the 
tune  of  "  The  Girl  I  left  Behind  Me."  I  also  re- 
member the  day  of  their  return,  a  few  months  after, 
when  there  was  great  joy  in  York. 

None  of  us  boys  were  allowed  pocket  money  by 
our  parents,  and  this  I  think  was  not  a  commendable 
feature  in  the  training  of  boys  in  those  days.  I  hold 
that  they  should  have  a  moderate  monthly  allow- 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  21 

ance.  It  will  save  them  from  temptation,  instead 
of  leading  them  into  it.  Only  one  of  our  number 
had  money,  and  we  had  reason  to  believe  he  did  not 
come  honestly  by  it.  I  do  not  mean  to  insinuate 
that  he  was  a  regular  thief,  but  he  had  good  opportu- 
nities at  home  of  getting  money  without  asking  for 
it.  Neither  were  the  boys  of  those  days  dressed  as 
genteelly  as  those  of  the  present  generation,  though 
our  parents  wTere  not  poor ;  but  times  have  changed. 
Quite  recently  a  little  boy  in  my  family,  who  was 
much  better  dressed  than  I  was  at  his  age,  insisted 
upon  putting  on  a  clean  shirt  and  his  Sunday  trou- 
sers to  go  and  see  a  base-ball  game  played  by  coun- 
try boys  in  the  neighborhood.  This  trifling  incident 
brought  up  the  memory  of  the  olden  times  when  his 
grandfather  was  not  dressed  as  well  on  Sunday  as 
he  was  in  a  suit  which  he  would  not  wear  at  a  base- 
ball game.  Few  of  us  had  even  such  an  article  as 
an  overcoat  in  the  winter. 

There  was  no  German  or  French  taught  in  the 
village  or  country  schools,  nor  some  other  branches 
now  considered  indispensable.  I  learned  French 
later  in  life,  and  improved  in  German,  the  rudiments 
of  which  I  picked  up  from  hearing  it  spoken  a  good 
deal  in  York.  I  never  acquired  a  fluency  in  speak- 
ing French,  for  although  I  read  it  almost  as  well  as 
English,  owing  to  lack  of  intercourse  with  French 
speaking  people  my  ear  was  never  properly  edu- 
cated to  catch  the  words  of  persons  who  rapidly 
speak  that  language.     I  hold  that  no  one  can  learn 


2  2  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

to  speak  a  foreign  language  fluently  and  correctly 
without  daily  conversation  with  natives.  Hence  I 
do  not  think  that  many  of  our  young  Americans  who 
go  to  foreign  universities  to  prosecute  medical  or 
scientific  studies  are  much  profited  by  the  lectures 
they  hear  in  Paris  or  Berlin  or  elsewhere  abroad. 
They  do  not  know  the  languages  well  enough  to  un- 
derstand the  professors.  I  have  been  surprised  at 
not  a  few  of  my  acquaintances,  and  other  young 
men  who  have  heard  lectures  abroad,  how  imper- 
fectly they  spoke  German  or  French,  and  I  am  sure 
they  understood  but  little  of  what  the  professors  said ; 
but  they  had  the  name  of  having  studied  abroad, 
and  that  was  something. 

In  those  early  days  there  were  several  annual 
events  which  excited  the  interest  of  us  youngsters. 
These  were  the  "  Fairs  "  and  the  "  Battalion  Days." 
The  first  was  a  feeble  imitation,  or  rather  a  resem- 
blance of  the  annual  fairs  in  Germany,  at  which  sales 
of  all  kinds  of  goods  are  held,  and  which  are  attended 
by  respectable  merchants  from  distant  places  for  the 
sale  of  their  various  manufactures.  But  the  ' '  fairs  ' ' 
formerly  prevalent  in  the  German  counties  of  Penn- 
sylvania were  nothing  but  country  frolics,  and  the 
only  traffic  was  in  ginger-bread,  small  beer,  raisins, 
oranges,  and  other  small  affairs.  There  was  a  dance 
at  nearly  every  low  tavern,  and  other  immoralities 
were  freely  practiced.  The  town  was  crowded  with 
country  people,  and  all  the  thieves  and  other  vulgar 
folks  enjoyed  a  rich  harvest.     The  stalls  for  the  dis- 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  23 

play  and  sale  of  the  numerous  articles  were  in  and 
about  the  market  house,  and  there  the  crowd  as- 
sembled. We  schoolboys  also  claimed  the  privilege 
of  going  to  the  ' '  fair, ' '  but  I  do  not  remember 
whether  we  had  a  holiday  or  not. 

Speaking  of  these  fairs  reminds  me  of  a  little  in- 
cident worth  mentioning.  Some  years  ago  one  of 
our  young  ministers  published  an  article  on  Luther, 
which  denied  the  tradition  that  Luther's  mother  was 
attending  a  "fair"  at  Eisleben  when  her  son  was 
born.  Our  writer,  knowing  something  of  a  Penn- 
sylvania fair  and  its  demoralizing  influence,  main- 
tained that  Luther's  mother  was  a  pious  woman, 
who  would  not  go  to  such  a  place,  and  therefore  that 
was  not  her  motive  in  going  to  Eisleben.  This  was 
printed  in  our  most  popular  church  paper,  and  the 
absurdity  of  it  was  not  exposed  by  the  editor. 

The  Battalion  Day  was  a  sort  of  annual  parade 
of  all  the  militia  in  the  county,  but  it  was  a  military 
farce.  It  brought  large  crowds  to  town,  and  the 
store  keepers  and  tavern-keepers  and  cake-women 
and  small-beer  venders  reaped  the  profit.  On  this 
day  we  had  holiday,  for  it  was  a  day  of  universal 
interest. 

Some  reminiscences  which  would  be  of  no  special 
interest  to  anybody  lead  me  to  make  the  following 
observation:  If  I  had  the  training  of  boys  I  would 
do  all  in  my  power  to  encourage  them  by  kind  words, 
even  when  they  failed  in  any  public  exercise,  unless 
the  failure  was  the  result  of  idleness,  and  to  applaud 


24  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

them  when  they  did  well.  It  is  a  great  help  to  a 
boy  who  is  struggling  along  in  his  studies.  If  he 
has  no  sympathy  from  his  superiors  he  desponds, 
unless  he  has  uncommon  energy  and  self-will.  I 
speak  from  painful  experience,  and  I  might  tell  a 
ta'e  of  youthful  sorrows  founded  upon  this  fact.  I 
have  taken  a  different  course,  and  while  I  tenderly 
rebuke  carelessness  and  neglect  of  books,  yet  I  ap- 
plaud every  honest  effort  to  do  well,  and  every  in- 
stance of  success  in  those  young  persons  most  nearly 
associated  with  me.  It  cheers  and  encourages  them, 
and  excites  a  commendable  ambition  to  learn,  but 
to  be  constantly  scolded,  and  sometimes  laughed  at, 
blunts  their  tender  sensibilities  and  begets  indiffer- 
ence. They  lose  all  interest  in  their  books  and  be- 
come sullen  and  discontented. 


CHAPTER  II. 

STUDENT  UFE   AT  PRINCETON   AND   DICKINSON   COLLEGES. 

In  September,  1820,  at  the  age  of  seventeen,  I  en- 
tered the  Sophomore  class  at  Princeton  College. 
Some  other  York  boys  had  been  there  before,  and 
two  were  still  students  when  I  went.  My  examina- 
tion was  not  severe,  and  far  below  what  is  demanded 
at  the  present  time  at  any  respectable  college.  I 
was  an  inexperienced  country  boy,  never  having 
been  from  home,  and  cherishing  all  the  crude  ideas 
and  rustic  oddities  of:  an  obscure  village  lad  of  sev- 
enteen who  had  never  been  among  strangers.  This 
sudden  introduction  among  a  large  number  of  young 
men,  every  one  of  whom  I  thought  superior  to  me 
in  every  respect,  intimidated  me,  made  me  feel  awk- 
ward, and  exposed  my  rusticity  to  a  ridiculous 
degree. 

The  Pennsylvania  village  boys  of  those  days  had 
not  the  advantages  of  travel,  sight-seeing,  and  in- 
tercourse with  strangers  which  most  of  the  sons  of 
respectable  families  now  enjoy,  but  we  were  kept  at 
home,  and  our  verdancy  was  nursed  with  care.  It 
is  true  in  those  times  there  were  no  cheap  excursions 

(»s) 


26  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

to  places  of  interest  as  at  present,  and  young  people 
seldom  left  their  village  or  rural  home  even  to  visit 
the  largest  neighboring  city.  We  seldom  had  inter- 
course with  strangers,  and  our  country  manners  were 
not  improved,  nor  any  self-reliance  cultivated  or  en- 
couraged. 

My  brother  Charles  accompanied  me  to  Princeton, 
which  then  required  two  full  days'  travel  to  reach 
from  York. 

I  remember  my  trepidation  in  the  presence  of  the 
Faculty,  in  the  examination  room,  and  also  my  ex- 
ultation when  informed  of  my  admission.  I  leaped 
down  three  or  four  steps  from  the  door  to  the  campus 
in  one  joyous  bound,  and  rushed  across  the  street  to 
the  hotel  where  my  brother  was  waiting  in  painful 
anxiety  for  the  result.  I  heard  several  students  who 
were  standing  around,  and  who  observed  my  ex- 
uberant delight,  say,  ' '  That  fellow  has  got  through, 
surely."  I  was  wild  with  joy.  In  1886  I  pointed 
out  that  identical  spot  to  my  grandson,  Charles  R. 
Trowbridge. 

Verdant  and  rustic  as  I  was,  I  soon  found  some 
like  myself,  and  a  little  more  so.  I,  however,  soon 
acquired  respect,  for  I  stood  well  in  my  classes,  and 
had  companionable  qualities  which  were  useful  to 
me.  From  the  very  start  I  took  an  active  interest 
in  the  ' '  American  Whig  Society, ' '  and  won  its  prize 
of  $30  for  declamation.  I,  however,  returned  it  to 
the  society,  as  some  others  had  done  before  me. 
This  was  considered  liberal  and  honorable,  and  the 
act  secured  me  additional  respect. 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  27 

During  the  two  sessions  of  the  Sophomore  year  I 
ranked  among  the  "First  Graders,"  with  several 
others.  The  "  Grade  "  was  awarded  upon  excel- 
lency of  recitations  only,  and  in  some  classes  there 
were  as  many  as  five  or  six  of  equal  rank ;  but  in 
my  first  Junior  session  I  lost  my  first  grade,  but  got 
the  second.  This  was  because  I  failed  in  mathe- 
matics, which  I  never  liked,  and  did  not  diligently 
study.  Another  reason  was  that  I  "  stumped,"  that 
is,  failed,  in  Bible  recitation  one  Sunday  afternoon. 

The  studies  of  the  Sophomore  class  were  not  equal 
in  grade  to  those  of  the  Freshman  in  most  colleges 
of  these  times,  and  some  branches  were  not  taught 
at  all  which  are  now  considered  essential.  The 
text-books  were  not  as  well  edited  as  at  present ; 
the  apparatus  was  not  as  extensive,  and  the  work 
of  teaching  was  performed  by  fewer  men,  and  for 
the  most  part  in  a  very  perfunctory  manner,  at  least 
so  I  thought. 

I  indulged  in  no  vulgar  college  mischief,  and  no 
dissipation,  both  of  which  I  considered  ungentle- 
manly,  irrespective  of  their  immorality ;  but  I  do  not 
think  I  was  deterred  from  them  by  any  religious 
motive.  I  remembered  my  mother.  I  was,  how- 
ever, once  unduly  influenced  to  join  in  what  was 
then,  called  a  ' '  rebellion  ' '  against  the  authorities, 
together  with  a  majority  of  the  students ;  but  we 
were  finally  subdued,  and  were  let  off  very  lightly. 
The  college  exercises  were  interrupted  for  a  day, 
but  upon  reflection  we  relented,  and  confessed  our 


28  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

error  rather  than  be  suspended  from  college.  It 
was  a  rash,  stupid  and  inexcusable  affair,  without 
cause  or  provocation  of  any  kind.  We  thought  we 
were  entitled  to  a  holiday  on  some  occasion,  and  the 
Faculty  refused,  upon  which  we  held  an  indignation 
meeting,  and  resolved  that  we  would  not  attend 
recitation,  which  was  ' '  rebellion. ' '  We  were  led 
into  the  mischief  by  an  influential  young  man,  and 
blindly  followed  his  dictation.  He  afterwards  be- 
came a  lawyer  of  high  character,  and  a  distinguished 
general  in  the  Union  army. 

Since  I  have  come  to  years  of  discretion,  and 
capable  of  taking  an  impartial  view  of  things,  I  be- 
lieve that  in  nine  out  of  ten  cases  of  college  disturb- 
ances the  Faculty  is  right  and  the  students  are 
wrong.  The  rebellions  are  usually  the  result  of  in- 
discretion and  false  pride,  and  deserve  the  exercise 
of  severe  discipline. 

This  was  the  only  offense  for  which  I  was  ever 
"  called  to  account  "  at  college.  My  conduct  mark 
was  always  No.  i,  although  I  had  many  temptations 
in  another  direction.  There  were  many  dissipated 
fellows  around  me,  yet  I  never  yielded  to  their  wiles 
nor  indulged  in  their  frolics.  My  allowance  from 
home  did  not  justify  any  extravagance  of  this  kind, 
and  besides  I  always  ' '  remembered  my  mother. ' ' 

My  room-mate  for  a  while  (the  word  ' '  chum  ' '  was 
not  used  at  Princeton  in  my  time)  was  a  young  man 
three  or  four  years  my  senior,  and  quite  an  erratic 
genius.     He  was  dissipated,   but  yet  a  genial,  tal- 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  29 

ented  fellow.  Strange,  that  over  thirty  years  after 
I  should  be  called  upon  to  marry  him  to  a  foreign 
woman,  with  whom  he  had  lived  illegally  for  several 
years,  and  that  a  few  years  after  that  I  should  be 
summoned  to  a  court  in  another  State  to  give  evi- 
dence in  the  case  of  his  divorce.  He  was  quite  dis- 
tinguished for  his  legal  attainments,  but  having  an 
adequate  income,  arid  being  careless  of  business,  he 
did  not  succeed  in  practice. 

One  hot  afternoon,  while  some  of  the  classes  were 
at  recitation,  we  heard  the  cry  of  fire  in  the  village, 
but  we  did  not  move.  Dr.  Green,  the  President, 
came  to  us  in  great  trepidation,  and  exclaimed  as 
loud  as  his  feeble  voice  would  allow  him,  "  Mr. 
Stockton's  house  is  on  fire."  This  we  regarded  as 
a  call  to  the  rescue,  and  the  way  we  heeled  it  to  the 
West  End,  where  the  house  was  situated,  was  a  les- 
son to  veteran  firemen.  We  rushed  in  and  dragged 
out  all  the  furniture  we  could  lay  hands  on,  and 
finally,  with  the  help  of  the  townspeople,  we  ex- 
tinguished the  fire.  Some  of  our  boys,  suspecting 
that  there  might  be  something  in  the  cellar  worth 
saving,  found  their  way  into  it  through  the  smoking 
ruins,  and  soon  appeared,  begrimed  with  dust  and 
cobwebs,  bearing  in  their  arms  lots  of  bottles  of 
wine,  and  as  there  was  no  cork-screw  in  the  com- 
pany, the  heads  of  the  bottles  were  broken  by  a 
knock  on  the  fence.  Some  of  our  zealous  firemen 
did  not  get  home  till  midnight,  and  not  a  few  others 
were  unfit  for  study  next  day,  owing  to  severe  head- 
aches contracted  from  their  hard  work  at  the  fire ! ! ! 


30  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

Some  contemporaries  of  mine  at  Princeton  became 
distinguished  men,  and  some  who  were  modest, 
pious  and  exemplary  young  men  did  not  keep  the 
faith  when  they  entered  upon  public  life.  When  I 
came  to  Baltimore  I  found  one  who  had  been  one  of 
the  "  Religiosi,"  as  they  were  called  at  college,  prac- 
ticing at  the  bar,  besides  holding  a  high  position  in 
the  court,  but  he  had  abandoned  his  religious  pro- 
fession, as  well  as  his  moral  life.  I  could  say  the 
same  of  others,  but  it  gives  me  more  pleasure  to  say 
that  most  of  that  class  of  men  maintained  their  in- 
tegrity to  the  end,  as  far  as  my  observation  ex- 
tended. One  of  these  young  lawyers  at  the  Balti- 
more bar,  who  had  graduated  with  high  honors  at 
Princeton  before  I  went  there,  was  a  student  dis- 
tinguished for  his  piety  and  Christian  earnestness. 
He  became  skeptical,  it  was  said,  from  reading 
philosophical  writings,  and  lapsed  into  infidelity. 
He  may  have  been  a  student  of  theology,  but  of 
this  I  am  not  certain.  It  is  said  Dr.  Alexander 
would  never  give  him  up,  but  believing  him  an 
elect  child  of  God  he  would  be  brought  back  by 
divine  grace;  in  other  words,  he  could  not  finally 
fall  away  because  he  was  predestinated  to  eternal 
life!  He  did  not  return,  whence  it  follows  either 
that  he  was  not  predestinated,  or  if  he  was,  that  the 
elect  may  ' '  fall  from  grace. ' ' 

I  once  tried  an  experiment  to  ascertain  whether 
fellow-students  at  college,  who  were  not  particularly 
intimate  while  there,  remembered  each  other  after 
a  separation  of  thirty  years. 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  3 1 

I  had  often  observed,  in  his  seat  in  the  Senate  of 
the  United  States,  a  member  whom  I  knew  at  col- 
lege, though  not  as  a  familiar  acquaintance,  for  he 
was  two  classes  ahead  of  me  and  belonged  to  a 
different  college  society ;  but  I  ventured  one  day  in 
Washington  to  introduce  myself,  hardly  expecting 
to  be  remembered  by  him,  but  to  my  surprise  and 
gratification  he  recognized  me  after  thirty  years' 
separation,  and  said,  "  I  not  only  remember  you, 
but  have  kept  trace  of  you  ever  since  you  went  to 
Baltimore. ' '    This  was  Senator  Pearce,  of  Maryland. 

There  was  a  very  different  experience  which  I  had 
on  another  occasion.  I  once  rather  familiarly  ac- 
costed a  minister,  who  had  been  a  classmate  in  the 
Theological  Seminary  at  Princeton,  and  with  whom 
I  recited  and  heard  lectures  every  day  for  eight 
months,  and  ate  at  the  same  table,  and  yet  to  my 
surprise,  and  another  emotion  which  I  need  not 
mention,  he  did  not  remember  of  ever  seeing  me, 
and  of  course  did  not  know  me,  although  only  ten 
years  had  elapsed.  I  turned  upon  my  heel,  and 
muttered  in  tones  loud  enough  to  be  heard,  "  Don't 
know  much  of  anything ;  bad  memory. ' ' 

*  #  #  #  *  * 

How  hard  it  is  to  get  rid  of  college  slang  phrases ! 
Some  of  these  uncouth  and  unclassical  expressions 
cling  to  me  to  the  present  day.  I  can  tell  a  Prince- 
ton man  among  a  thousand  if  he  uses  certain  words 
and  sentences  which  were  peculiar  to  that  college 
exclusively. 


32  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

One  of  my  room-mates  for  a  season  was  William 
Buchanan,  a  younger  brother  of  James  Buchanan, 
then  a  member  of  Congress,  and  afterwards  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States.  My  room-mate  was  a 
young  man  of  fine  talents,  but  died  soon  after  en- 
tering upon  the  profession  of  law  in  Chambersburg. 

This  fact  was  the  ground  of  my  acquaintance  with 
Mr.  Buchanan  when  he  was  Secretary  of  State  under 
President  Polk,  and  subsequently  President  himself. 

When  he  was  a  young  man  living  in  Lancaster  he 
also  practiced  in  the  York  county  court,  where  he 
was  a  close  acquaintance  of  my  brothers  Charles  and 
George.  He  was  Mr.  Polk's  Secretary  in  1846, 
when  I  went  to  Europe.  I  asked  him  for  a  private 
letter  to  some  of  our  representatives  abroad,  in  ad- 
dition to  my  passport.  He  refused  at  first,  because, 
as  he  said,  it  was  unusual  and  undiplomatic  for  a 
cabinet  officer  to  give  such  letters  to  private  travel- 
ers, but  he  would  give  it  to  me  as  a  special  private 
favor.  These  wily  politicians  want  all  their  favors 
to  have  a  special  value.  I  dare  say  he  gave  this 
special  favor  to  every  respectable  gentleman  who 
asked  for  it.  I  spent  several  hours  with  him  at  the 
house  of  a  mutual  friend  in  Baltimore  when  he  was 
on  his  way  as  embassador  to  St.  Petersburg.  I  saw 
him  frequently  during  his  Presidency,  when  he  al- 
ways inquired  concerning  my  brothers  and  other 
York  people.  Once  during  his  Presidency  he  and  I 
occupied  the  same  seat  in  the  car  between  York  and 
Baltimore  on  the  return  from  a  visit  to  Lancaster. 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  ^3 

During  my  time  at  Princeton  it  was  customary  for 
some  one  to  write  an  Honoriad  upon  the  graduating 
class — a  sort  of  poetical  picture  gallery,  describing 
the  character  of  each  man  according  to  the  preju- 
dice, or  at  least  the  immature  judgment  of  the 
writer.  I  was  mischievous  enough  to  write  one  on 
the  Juniors,  in  which,  in  doggerel  verse,  I  depicted 
the  character  of  each  member  according  to  my 
view.  I  made  several  copies  of  it,  and  deposited 
them  in  such  places  where  I  knew  they  would  be 
found.  The  excitement  was  great,  but  I  was  not 
suspected  except  by  one  man,  and  I  managed  to 
silence  him.  The  affair  soon  blew  over,  but  I  was 
apprehensive  of  discovery,  which  would  have  been 
anything  but  pleasant.  Very  few,  however,  took 
offence,  for  I  gave  most  of  them  such  exalted  char- 
acters, and  painted  them  in  such  nattering  colors, 
they  were  rather  pleased  than  otherwise.  It  was 
an  inexcusable  piece  of  mischief,  but  still  it  hurt 
nobody.  I  still  have  a  copy  of  that  Honoriad  among 
my  papers.  I  once  read  it  to  a  gentleman  who 
afterwards  became  a  high  officer  of  government, 
who  thought  it  a  good  juvenile  piece  of  mischievous 
nonsense  in  rhyme. 

There  were  the  ordinary  bullet-rolling,  cracker- 
firing,  and  what  was  called  "  funking  "  (burning  in 
the  college  entries  a  ball  composed  of  all  sorts  of 
villainously  offensive  materials),  and  I  do  not  re- 
member that  any  rascally  perpetrator  was  ever  dis- 
covered. Regularly,  every  summer  session,  some 
3 


34  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

buildings  on  the  campus  were  destroyed  by  fire. 
The  scamps  who  played  this  villainous  trick  were 
not  as  honest  as  a  young  student  who  committed 
the  same  offense  nearer  home,  but  who,  when  con- 
verted from  his  evil  ways  by  God's  grace,  made 
restitution  to  the  college  treasurer. 

One  mean  trick  was  often  perpetrated.  The 
morning  prayer  bell  was  rung  so  early  that  many 
students  jumped  out  of  bed,  and  rushed  into  the 
11  Oratory  "  without  washing,  or  without  even 
dressing,  being  satisfied  with  throwing  a  large 
plaid  cloak  around  us,  which  was  universally  worn 
at  that  time.  During  the  night  some  scamps  would 
steal  into  the  unlocked  rooms  and  blacken  the  faces 
of  the  fellows  asleep.  In  that  plight  some  of  them 
would  go  into  prayers,  and  the  effect  may  be 
imagined. 

There  was  little  or  no  intercourse  between  the 
students  and  the  people  of  Princeton.  We  were  not 
allowed  to  go  outside  of  the  campus  in  study  hours, 
and  there  was  no  social  visiting  of  ladies,  as  far  as  I 
know,  except  one.  A  young  Virginian  engaged 
himself  to  a  lady  of  one  of  the  ' '  first  ' '  families  in 
town,  and  married  her  soon  after  his  graduation. 
He  was  obliged  to  get  permission  whenever  he  went 
to  see  her.  Of  course  this  rigid  rule  was  often 
broken. 

There  was  no  intercourse  whatever  between  the 
professors  and  students,  except  in  the  class-room,  and 
that  was  stiff  and  magisterial.     A  cold  distance  was 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  35 

observed  at  all  other  times.  Nobody  kindly  advised 
us  or  sympathized  with  us,  and  thus  the  honest  am- 
bition of  many  a  studious  young  man  was  checked, 
at  least  not  encouraged,  when  a  word  of  friendly 
recognition  or  paternal  advice  would  have  imparted 
fresh  vigor  to  his  efforts,  but  there  was  nothing  of 
this  kind.  Nothing  was  ever  done  or  said  to  inspire 
us  with  a  love  for  our  studies,  or  with  an  honorable 
desire  to  become  first-class  scholars.  I  never  heard 
of  a  student  being  invited  ' '  socially  "to  a  prof  es- 
sor's  house. 

I  am  not  a  pedagogist,  but  I  think  it  a  great  mis- 
take in  the  method  of  education  to  show  no  interest 
in  students  outside  of  the  recitation  room  except  to 
watch  and  report  them.  This  is  the  way  we  were 
treated,  and  feeling  that  no  confidence  was  put  in 
us,  we  became  perhaps  more  mischievous  on  that 
account.  Our  rooms  were  visited  every  night  at 
eight  o'clock  by  a  tutor,  who  gravely  went  round 
with  his  hat  in  his  hand  and  opened  every  door 
without  knocking,  peeped  in  in  a  perfunctory  and 
policeman  style,  and  next  morning  reported  the 
absentees. 

The  style  of  religion  was  of  the  Presbyterian 
Puritanic  type,  of  exceeding  rigid  morality  but  of 
no  fervor.  The  pious  students  were  called  the 
11  Religiosi,"  and  many  of  them  were  exemplary 
young  men.  The  ideas  of  most  of  them  on  the 
sanctity  of  the  Sabbath,  as  they  called  the  Lord's 
day,  appeared  to  me,  young  as  I  was,   to  be  very 


$6  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

strange.  They  would  not  write  letters  even  to  their 
parents  on  that  day,  for  handling  a  pen  implied 
work,  and  they  would  not  study  their  Monday's 
lessons,  because  that  was  not  religious  work;  but 
some  of  them,  ambitious  to  be  ready  with  their 
recitations  on  Monday  morning,  would  gossip  and 
talk  nonsense  all  Sunday  evening  until  the  clock 
struck  12,  and  then  they  would  apply  themselves 
lustily  to  their  books,  and  study  hard  for  several 
hours.  They  were  conscientious,  but  it  set  me  to 
thinking  on  the  peculiar  training  which  these  pious 
young  men  had  on  the  subject  of  the  Lord's  day. 
I  find  fault  with  no  one.  I  am  not  their  judge,  and 
will  not  be  their  censor. 

There  were  occasions  of  special  religious  interest, 
but  there  was  nothing  like  the  Inquiry  Meetings, 
which  have  since  become  so  popular  in  the  churches. 
When  a  student  seemed  to  be  religiously  moved  he 
was  exempted  from  recitation,  that  he  might  have 
time  for  meditation  and  prayer.  The  spirit  of  re- 
vivalism, which  manifested  itself  in  New  England, 
was  not  cherished  in  Princeton. 

The  Sunday  exercises  were  worship  in  the  morn- 
ing in  the  ' '  Oratory, ' '  when  Dr.  Miller  and  Dr.  Al- 
exander, from  the  Seminary,  preached;  at  other 
times  Dr.  Green,  the  President,  and  other  members 
of  the  Faculty,  performed  that  service.  There  was 
Bible  recitation  in  the  afternoon,  besides  the  repeti- 
tion of  the  Westminster  Catechism. 

****** 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  37 

One  of  the  college  exercises  was  declamation  in 
the  ' '  Oratory  ' '  every  day  after  evening  prayers. 
One  day  a  classmate  and  I  were  to  speak.  I  had 
committed  a  humorous  speech,  such  as  was  not  often 
heard  there.  I  was  to  come  first,  and  I  begged  him 
to  let  me  declaim  last,  for  I  knew  that  the  whole 
crowd  would  be  in  a  roar,  and  that  he,  following  me 
with  his  selection,  would  appear  to  a  disadvantage, 
for  I  wanted  him  to  have  a  chance,  knowing  that  he 
was  ambitious  of  being  an  orator.  But  he  would 
not  consent,  and  the  result  was  as  I  had  expected. 
They  were  loud  and  uproarous  in  their  applause  of 
my  selection,  and  the  poor  fellow  was  not  listened 
to,  for  they  had  not  done  laughing  at  my  nonsense 
when  he  was  half  through  with  his  declamation. 

At  that  time  all  the  students  and  Faculty  wore 
academic  gowns  at  prayers,  church,  and  sometimes 
on  the  street. 

There  were  two  literary  societies  in  college,  the 
American  Whig  and  the  Cliosophic,  between  which 
there  was  an  active  rivalry.  Profound  secrecy  was 
observed  as  to  the  proceedings,  and  none  but  mem- 
bers were  ever  permitted  to  enter  the  halls,  even 
when  there  was  no  meeting.  There  was  great  effort 
made  to  induce  new  students  to  join  one  or  the 
other,  and  this  was  called  ' '  huxing, ' '  which  some- 
times resulted  in  ill  feeling  and  angry  words.  There 
were  no  Phi  Beta  Kappa  societies,  or  other  fraterni- 
ties with  Greek  initials.  I  now  believe  that  they 
create  jealousies,  envies  and  clannishness. 


38  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

I  think  it  was  at  Princeton  that  I  first  began  to 
keep  a  diary,  which  I  kept  up,  at  intervals,  for  many 
years.  It  is  a  good  thing,  if  properly  done,  for  in 
after  years  it  brings  up  many  a  reminiscence  of  im- 
portance, or  at  least  of  interest.  Sometimes  also  it 
realizes  what  has  been  said :  ' '  The  remembrance  of 
youth  is  a  sigh,"  but  the  "  olim  meminisse  juvat  " 
is  still  good.  Anthony  Trollope,  in  his  entertaining 
Autobiography,  Chap.  III.,  says:  "  Early  in  life,  at 
the  age  of  15,  I  had  commenced  the  dangerous  habit 
of  keeping  a  journal,  and  this  I  maintained  for  ten 
years.  The  volumes  remained  in  my  possession  un- 
regarded— never  looked  at — till  1870,  when  I  exam- 
ined them,  and  with  many  blushes  destroyed  them. 
They  convicted  me  of  folly,  ignorance,  indiscretion, 
idleness,  extravagance  and  conceit.  But  they  habit- 
uated me  to  a  rapid  use  of  the  pen  and  ink,  and 
taught  me  how  to  express  myself  with  facility. 9 '  I 
presume  that  most  young  diarists  can  say  the  same. 

There  was  a  college  celebration  of  the  4th  of  July, 
and  I  remember  being  chosen  to  deliver  the  oration 
in  the  Presbyterian  church  in  the  town. 

%  sK  ♦  H*  ♦  * 

It  was  here  also  that  I  began  copying  into  a  book, 
which  I  yet  have,  every  short  poetical  quotation  of 
a  striking  character  which  I  could  find,  prose  ex- 
tracts, beautiful  similes,  strong  or  otherwise  re- 
markable expressions.  This  I  have  found  of  good 
service  all  my  days,  and  I  would  advise  every  young 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  39 

man  to  do  the  same  or  a  similar  thing.  Even  ad- 
vanced students  would  derive  benefit  from  it.  Later 
I  used  Todd's  Index  Rerum,  and  the  advantage  was 
great.  These  manuscript  books  have  brought  to 
mind  many  a  fact,  date,  quotation  or  expression,  that 
otherwise  would  have  been  forgotten. 

S»C  Sfc  *  *  %  * 

I  do  not  know  how  it  is  at  colleges  now,  but  at 
Princeton  we  answered  to  our  names  four  times  a 
day,  twice  at  prayers  and  twice  at  recitation. 

Riding  on  horseback  or  hiring  vehicles  was  for- 
bidden on  pain  of*  suspension. 

Among  the  students  there  were  many,  of  course, 
from  the  most  wealthy  and  influential  families.  I 
have  met  many  of  them  since  who  were  filling  re- 
sponsible positions,  and  some  of  them  have  risen  to 
eminence.  Others  have  lamentably  decayed,  and  I 
have  had  the  painful  experience  of  being  asked  for 
a  small  gift  of  money  by  a  former  classmate  to  buy 
bread  for  his  hungTy  family.  This  man  was  not 
intemperate,  but  beggared  for  lack  of  brains  and 
energy  to  gain  a  living  by  his  profession,  for  which 
he  was  never  fit.  But  he  had  no  force  of  character, 
was  respectably  connected,  destitute  of  talent,  mar- 
ried, had  a  number  of  children,  had  no  practice,  ex- 
hausted the  patience  and  liberality  of  his  kindred, 
borrowed  from  his  friends,  and  was  wretchedly  poor. 
Instead  of  trying  to  make  a  professional  man  of  him 
they  should  have  put  him  to  a  trade,  but  the  proud 
family  would  have  scorned  the  idea  of  having  a  me- 


40  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

chanic  cf  their  number.  I  could  give  other  melan- 
choly examples  of  decayed  fellow  students  whose 
history  is  deplorable. 

COLLEGE    LIFE    AT    DICKINSON,   CARLISLE. 

About  the  year  1820  Dickinson  College,  at  Car- 
lisle, Pa.,  was  resuscitated  by  the  Presbyterians, 
under  the  Presidency  of  Rev.  Dr.  John  M.  Mason, 
a  celebrated  minister  and  theological  writer  of  New 
York.  He  had  been  paralyzed,  and  walked  feebly 
with  the  use  of  crutches,  and  his  speech  was  sensibly 
affected ;  but  his  was  a  mighty  genius,  which  flashed 
out  brilliantly  on  many  occasions. 

My  brother  Charles,  who  controlled  my  move- 
ments, thought  that  all  Pennsylvanians  should  pat- 
ronize colleges  in  their  own  State,  and  besides, 
Carlisle  being  much  nearer  home,  he  concluded  to 
transfer  me  to  that  institution.  Accordingly,  having 
spent  the  whole  of  the  Sophomore  and  one-half  of  the 
Junior  years  at  Princeton,  I  entered  the  Senior  class 
at  Dickinson,  without  examination,  and  graduated 
in  1823.  My  certificate  of  good  standing  at  Prince- 
ton secured  for  me  this  privilege ;  besides  this  Prof. 
Vethake,  who  had  been  one  of  the  professors  at 
Princeton  during  my  time  there,  but  who,  a  short 
time  before,  had  accepted  a  position  at  Dickinson, 
was  perhaps  partial  to  me.  There  were  nineteen  of 
us  in  the  class,  and  it  was  the  first  that  was  gradu- 
ated under  the  new  government.  It  was  afterwards 
said  that  sixteen  of  us  became  ministers.     The  one 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  41 

who  became  the  most  distinguished  as  a  public  man, 
though  not  as  a  scholar,  was  George  W.  Bethune, 
who  was  an  eminent  minister  of  the  Reformed 
Dutch  church,  and  one  of  the  most  popular  men  in 
the  country  as  a  preacher,  lecturer,  platform  orator 
and  poet.  He  was  a  genial,  whole-hearted  man,  and 
he  and  I  kept  up  an  intimate  acquaintance  until  his 
death.  He  was  a  man  of  infinite  wit  and  humor, 
and  a  universal  favorite.  His  biography  has  been 
published,  and  extensively  read.  He  died  in  the 
West  Indies,  and  his  remains  were  brought  home 
for  burial.  He  was  not  studious  in  college,  and 
seemed  to  be  indifferent  about  learning-.  I  have 
seen  him  scribble  verses  during  recitation,  and  he 
was  usually  unprepared  in  his  lessons.  But  in  after 
years  he  made  himself  a  good  scholar.  His  wife 
was  an  incurable  invalid,  and  he  had  no  children. 
He  had  abundant  leisure  for  study.  He  was  un- 
gainly in  person,  and  far  from  being  ' '  one  of  your 
handsome  men."  In  all  other  respects  he  was  a 
model  man. 

There  were  others  in  that  class  who  rose  to  some 
distinction,  such  as  John  Young,  who  became  Pres- 
ident of  Danville  College,  in  Kentucky;  Erskine 
Mason,  son  of  the  President,  W.  R.  Williams,  and 
others. 

In  college  Dr.  Mason  taught  rhetoric,  and  lec- 
tured on  Horace  like  a  preacher  does  on  a  chapter 
of  the  Bible.  His  instruction  was  rich  with  facts 
and   anecdotes  of   the  most   interesting   character. 


42  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

His  paralysis  affected  his  mind  to  some  extent,  and 
made  his  reading  imperfect,  although  his  thoughts 
were  usually  solid  and  often  sparkling. 

Vethake  taught  mathematics,  astronomy  and 
chemistry.  Spence  taught  Greek,  and  McClellan 
metaphysics.  He  was  an  eccentric  genius,  and 
many  humorous  stories  were  told  about  him.  He 
was  careless  about  his  personal  appearance,  and 
slovenly  in  his  dress,  and  rather  indifferent  about 
the  common  courtesies  of  life ;  but  he  had  a  kind 
disposition,  and  was  indulgent  toward  his  pupils. 
One  night  he  was  present  at  an  exhibition  of  nitrous 
oxide  gas  in  the  court  house,  got  up  by  two  strolling 
Yankees.  I  took  the  gas  and  immediately  began 
spouting  Shakespeare  vociferously.  Next  day  on 
entering  the  class-room  I  stumbled  and  nearly  fell. 
McClellan  was  in  his  chair,  and  exclaimed,  "  Morris, 
still  under  the  influence  of  gas?"  He  seldom 
preached,  although  everybody  was  delighted  in 
hearing  him,  and  I  believe  that  was  the  reason  he 
rarely  gratified  them.  The  following  story  is  told 
of  him :  One  Sunday  morning  he  was  on  his  way  on 
horseback  to  a  country  church,  where  he  had  been 
announced  to  preach.  Some  people,  not  knowing 
him,  overtook  him,  and  after  riding  together  for 
some  time  he  asked  where  they  were  going.  ' '  We 
are  going  to  hear  Prof.  McClellan,  of  Carlisle, 
preach;  he's  a  mighty  preacher,  and  we  advise  you 
to  go  with  us. ' '  Instead  of  fulfilling  the  appoint- 
ment, he  turned  his  horse's  head  towards  town,  and 
did  not  go  to  preach. 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  43 

We  were  allowed  many  more  privileges  than  at 
Princeton,  and  the  effect  was  salutary. 

Dr.  Mason  was  an  enthusiastic  admirer  of  Alex- 
ander Hamilton,  and  ministered  to  him  after  he  was 
shot  by  Burr.  He  would  take  every  occasion  to 
bring  Hamilton  into  his  lectures,  and  once,  where 
Horace  says  of  some  one,  "  Idem  extinctus  ama- 
bitur, ' '  he  applied  these  words  to  his  favorite  with 
deep  emotion,  and  even  with  tears. 

He  would  sometimes  stop  in  the  campus  and  look 
at  us  playing  foot-ball,  and  once  said,  "  Ah,  young 
men,  I  wish  I  could  play  with  you!"  We  all 
revered  the  feeble  old  man,  even  if  we  did  some- 
times laugh  at  his  foibles. 

The  Rev.  Benjamin  Keller  was  at  that  time  pas- 
tor of  the  Lutheran  church,  whose  service  I  often 
attended  when  he  preached  English.  Little  did  I 
then  expect  that  before  many  years  I  would  become 
intimately  associated  with  him  in  church  work,  as  I 
afterwards  was.  Although  he  was  not  what  was 
called  a  strong  man,  yet  he  was  what  is  better,  a 
good  man,  and  had  the  esteem  of  everybody.  He 
did  much  better  service  in  the  church  than  many  a 
man  more  gifted  and  more  learned,  and  has  left  a 
name  fragrant  with  memories  of  the  most  pleasing 
character.  It  was  in  Mr.  Keller's  church  where  I 
first  heard  the  Rev.  B.  Kurtz  preach,  with  whom  in 
after  years  I  became  so  closely  connected.  I  had 
once  seen  him  before  at  my  mother's  house  during 
a  Synod  at  York  when   I   was  a  boy.     I  was  too 


44  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

young  for  him  to  notice  me,  for  I  was  1 1  and  he  was 
24  years  of  age.  In  subsequent  years  we  became 
co-workers  in  many  church  projects.  He  acquired 
a  wide  influence  in  the  church,  and  in  many  respects 
he  was  a  strong  man. 

As  far  back  as  I  can  remember,  I  had  what  may 
be  called  the  religious  sentiment  deeply  implanted 
in  me.  My  mother's  teaching,  prayers  and  example 
impressed  me  strongly,  and  even  in  the  gayety  of 
youthful  life  God  was  not  altogether  absent  from  my 
mind.  I  was  a  conscientious  church-goer  all  my 
life,  but  I  never  until  this  time  made  what  is  eccle- 
siastically called  a  profession  of  religion. 

It  was  at  Dickinson  that  my  mind  was  fully  made 
up  to  be  a  practical  Christian,  but  it  would  not  be 
important  to  say  what  were  my  previous  exercises 
of  mind  before  I  came  to  the  final  decision.  A  con- 
siderable number  of  students  took  the  same  position. 
The  lamented  death  of  James  Mason,  a  son  of  the 
President,  who  had  graduated  somewhere  else,  but 
who  was  now  living  with  his  father,  had  a  powerful 
influence  on  our  minds,  and  to  that  melancholy 
event  was  traced  the  deep  religious  interest  that 
ensued.  He  was  a  young  man,  highly  esteemed, 
although  few  of  us  knew  him  personally.  We  all 
attended  his  funeral,  and  as  some  of  us  were  carrying 
the  coffin  out  of  the  house  the  deeply  afflicted  father 
uttered,  in  a  deep,  sepulchral  tone,  "  Tread  softly, 
young  men,  tread  softly,  for  you  bear  the  body  of  the 
Holy  Ghost!"     It  was  like  a  voice  from  the  tomb, 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  45 

and  the  effect  was  most  impressive.  I  have  often 
referred  to  this  incident  and  quoted  these  words  at 
the  funeral  of  young  men.  Among  the  men  whose 
attention  was  specially  turned  to  practical  religion 
on  this  occasion,  and  who  united  with  the  Episcopal 
church,  was  Samuel  R.  McCrosky,  who  afterwards 
became  Bishop  of  Michigan,  and  who,  after  serving 
in  that  office  many  years,  resigned  it,  and  retired 
under  a  cloud. 

We  students  held  prayer-meetings  in  college,  and 
most  of  us  there  made  our  maiden  effort  in  leading" 
in  public  prayer. 

I  joined  the  Belles-Lettres  Society  in  college,  and 
in  fact  re-organized  it,  for  it  had  fallen  into  deep 
decay.  I  wrote  an  installation  address  to  the  can- 
didates when  admitted,  but  I  do  not  know  whether 
it  has  been  retained. 

It  was  at  Carlisle  that  I  began  my  career  as  a 
newspaper  scribbler,  which  I  have  rather  vigorously 
kept  up  ever  since.  I  think  it  was  in  the  Carlisle 
Volunteer  that  my  maiden  piece  appeared,  and  it  was 
upon  the  momentous  theme  of  ' '  The  Time  Lost  in 
Visiting  the  Ladies!"  When  I  saw  my  first  contri- 
bution in  print,  I  felt  much  bigger  than  on  any  sub- 
sequent like  occasion. 

On  the  occasion  of  some  public  exhibition  of  the 
college,  I  forget  what,  I  made  a  speech  upon  a  sub- 
ject then  agitating  the  public  mind ;  I  think  it  was 
the  invasion  of  Spain  by  the  French.  I  depicted  the 
glories  of  ancient  Spain  in  such  rainbow  colors,  and 


46  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

so  vehemently  abused  Napoleon,  that  some  intem- 
perate fellow  in  town,  who  was  captain  of  a  militia 
company,  was  so  fired,  with  military  ardor  and  other 
exciting  agencies,  that  he  declared  that  if  there  were 
not  a  few  objections  in  the  way  he  would  march  his 
company  to  the  relief  of  Spain,  and  drive  the  in- 
famous invader  from  the  country.  Next  morning 
his  ambition  was  cooled  off ! 

My  graduation  speech  was  on  The  Feudal  System, 
a  dull,  dry  subject,  which  I  did  not  understand,  and  for 
which  I  got  no  credit,  for  it  was  a  very  stupid  affair. 

The  academic  gown  was  not  worn  at  Dickinson  as 
at  Princeton,  but  what  struck  me  as  queer  was  that 
when  Dr.  Mason  rose  to  confer  on  the  class  the  de- 
gree of  A.  B.  he  put  on  his  hat,  and  removed  it  as 
soon  as  the  ceremony  was  over.  Upon  mentioning 
this  fact  to  some  one,  he  remarked  that  English 
judges  when  they  sentenced  a  criminal  to  death  al- 
ways put  on  a  black  cap,  and  he  mischievously  ob- 
served that  there  might  be  some  analogy  between 
the  two  cases. 

After  graduation  I  went  home ;  and  now  came  the 
struggle.  I  had  not  fully  decided  to  study  for  the 
ministry,  and  my  conflict  of  mind  was  painful.  I 
need  not  here  give  the  details,  but  I  finally  deter- 
mined for  the  pulpit,  and  then  my  mind  was  at  rest. 

There  was  nothing  supernatural  or  even  extra- 
ordinary in  the  circumstances  of  this,  my  ' '  call  to 
the  ministry. ' '  I  thought  that  I  had  the  religious 
qualifications — that  is,  I  was  a  sincere  believer,  and 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  47 

wished  to  do  good  in  the  best  way  I  could.  I  was 
in  perfect  health  and  of  vigorous  constitution.  1 
had  some  of  the  attributes  of  a  good  speaker,  and  I 
thought  that  by  culture  I  might  make  a  fair 
preacher.  I  had  means  of  my  own,  so  that  I  need 
not  be  a  burden  on  the  Church;  my  brother  was 
very  anxious  that  I  should  study  for  the  ministr)-, 
but  neither  he  nor  my  mother  ever  urged  it  upon 
me.  The  Lutheran  Church  had  less  than  300  minis- 
ters at  that  time,  and  her  sphere  of  activity  was  con- 
stantly enlarging,  whilst  the  ministry  was  not  mul- 
tiplying in  proportion.  Providence  had  cast  my  lot 
within  her  limits,  and  I  concluded  that  this  was  the 
field  for  me  to  work  in,  and  I  entered.  This  is  the 
only  ' '  call  to  the  ministry  ' '  I  know  anything  of. 
The  Church,  needed  my  services,  I  thought,  and  I 
cheerfully  offered  them.  I  regarded  her  need  as 
equivalent  to  a  call  from  her,  and  hence  I  concluded 
it  was  the  divine  will.  The  way  to  success  in  sev- 
eral other  pursuits  was  open  to  me,  but  I  was  led 
into  this  way,  and  herein  I  continue,  cheerful  and 
contented,  and  perhaps  to  some  extent  useful. 

From  that  time  I  gave  myself  entirely  to  the  work, 
and  made  preparations  accordingly.  The  question 
was,  where  should  I  study  theology?  There  was  no 
Lutheran  Seminary,  and  my  brother  and  I  concluded 
it  was  not  best,  for  the  present  at  least,  to  go  to 
Princeton.  He  wrote  to  Dr.  Demme,  of  Philadel- 
phia, and  requested  him  to  take  me  as  a  private 
pupil,  and  especially  to  learn  German,  which  was  at 


48  LIFE    REMINISCENXES    OF 

that  time  considered  indispensable  for  a  Lutheran 
minister,  and  should  always  be.  But  Dr.  Demme 
declined,  and  we  looked  around.  It  was  finally  de- 
termined that  I  should  go  all  the  way  to  New  Market, 
Shenandoah  county,  Va.,  where  S.  S.  Schmucker 
was  pastor,  who  made  known  his  willingness  to  re- 
ceive students  as  a  sort  of  preparatory  school  for  the 
seminary  which  he  and  a  few  others  were  meditating 
at  that  time.  Here  I  was,  fresh  from  college,  and 
with  a  pretty  fair  education  as  it  was  considered  in 
those  days,  but  I  was  utterly  unfit  for  any  sort  of 
business  which  required  tact,  calculation  or  atten- 
tion. An  errand  boy  in  a  country  store  had  more 
knowledge  of  keeping  accounts  and  managing  things 
in  general  than  I,  with  all  my  Greek  and  Latin.  I 
have  painfully  felt  this  deficiency  all  through  life, 
and  just  here  there  is  a  defect  in  our  training.  I 
have  discovered  that  those  of  our  ministers  who  had 
served  in  stores  or  any  other  secular  business  before 
they  entered  the  ministry  were  always  the  best  bus- 
iness men  in  Synod.  They  alone  were  competent 
to  examine  accounts,  adjust  mileage,  disentangle 
knotty  skeins,  and  give  good  advice  on  pecuniary 
matters.  How  much  better  it  would  be  if  every 
minister  had  a  year's  schooling  in  a  commercial 
college,  a  bank  or  counting  house.  It  would  pre- 
vent many  a  stupid  blunder  in  after  life. 

Mr.  Schmucker  was  to  be  at  Frederick  shortly,  in 
attendance  on  the  General  Synod,  whither  I  went  to 
meet  him  and  to  make  arrangements,  which  I  did. 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  49 

He  had  prepared  me  for  college,  and  he  was  now  to 
become,  for  a  while  at  least,  my  theological  tutor. 
I  was  taught  the  orthodox  system  of  faith  from  my 
earliest  youth,  and  never  was  tempted  to  accept  any 
other.  I  never  had  an3r  difficulties  of  that  character 
to  encounter.  It  was  my  mother's  faith,  and  I  ob- 
served its  sanctifying  influences  in  her  godly  life, 
and  that  was  enough  for  me.  The  peculiarities  of 
the  Lutheran  faith,  especially  on  the  sacraments, 
were  not  taught  me  when  I  was  young,  and  when  I 
first  came  under  the  influence  of  teachers  in  later 
years  I  was  led  to  the  opposite  direction,  and  I  said 
and  wrote  and  printed  some  things  which  I  have  re- 
gretted a  thousand  times.  But  I  have  changed  my 
mind ;  it  was  a  slow  and  gradual  change,  and  per- 
haps on  that  account  the  more  wise,  and  certainly 
the  more  permanent,  and  I  am  glad  to  witness  so 
many  evidences  of  a  similar  wholesome  change  in 
many  of  our  ministers. 

The  first  clear  oral  illustration  of  the  Lutheran 
doctrine  of  the  Lord's  Supper  was  given  to  me  by 
the  Rev.  Dr.  J.  G.  Schmucker,  of  York,  Pa.  This 
was,  I  think,  before  I  became  a  theological  pupil  of 
his  son,  who  was  trained  by  his  father  in  the  same 
faith,  and  vigorously  maintained  it  in  what  is  called 
the  first  edition  of  his  translation  of  Storr  and  Flatt's 
Theology,  but  he  afterwards  abandoned  it,  and 
adopted  the  New  England  Zwinglian  views.  His 
teaching  gradually  brought  me  over  to  his  opinions, 
for  I  was  not  well  established  in  true  Lutheranism  ; 
4 


50  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

but  when  I  became  free  from  his  influence,  and  pur- 
sued independent  research,  I  settled  down  in  the 
true  faith.  This  is  the  case  with  many  others  who 
were  students  in  the  seminary  when  Dr.  S.  S. 
Schmucker  was  theological  professor.  He  himself 
became  aware  of  this  departure  from  his  teachings 
before  he  died,  and  it  grieved  him  exceedingly.  He 
had  done  much  towards  securing  the  support,  and 
perhaps  also  procuring  parishes  for  some  of  these 
men,  and  he  thought  it  hard  that  they  should  re- 
pudiate his  instructions.  Two  of  his  three  sons  who 
entered  the  ministry  became  decided  Lutherans  of 
the  straitest  sort;  his  brother-in-law,  the  Rev.  Dr. 
C.  F.  Schaeffer,  was  all  his  lifetime  a  staunch  de- 
fender of  the  true  faith ;  two  of  his  sons-in-law,  the 
Rev.  A.  Geissenhainer  and  the  Rev.  Dr.  B.  Sadtler, 
were  equally  devoted  to  it ;  some  of  his  pupils,  such 
as  the  Rev.  Dr.  Ziegler,  Reuben  Weiser,  and  all  of 
those  in  connection  with  the  Synod  of  Pennsylvania, 
as  well  as  some  others,  subsequently  repudiated  the 
teaching  of  their  professor  on  the  subject  of  the  sac- 
raments. 

Mr.  Schmucker  undoubtedly  rendered  great  serv- 
ice to  the  Church  in  her  struggles  during  the  earlier 
period  of  his  life.  He  had  numerous  followers,  but 
they  did  not  all  adhere  to  him.  He  exercised  a 
commanding  influence  in  those  days,  and  was  easily 
regarded  as  the  first  man  in  the  General  Synod.  He 
was  the  founder  of  the  Seminary  and  College  at  Get- 
tysburg, and  of  other  auxiliaries  to  the  benefit  of 
the  Church. 


CHAPTER  III. 

STUDENT   LIFE    AT    NEW    MARKET,    VA.— NAZARETH,    PA.,    AND 

PRINCETON  SEMINARY,   1823-1825—  THE  GENERAL  SYNOD 

AT   FREDERICK,  MD.,  IN    1825. 

Behold  me  now  installed  in  a  straggling  obscure 
Shenandoah  county  village  of  400  inhabitants,  who 
were  exceedingly  plain  and  uncultivated  for  the 
most  part,  but  the  majority  were  good  specimens  of 
American  German  thrift  and  frugality.  There  was 
no  trade  except  that  furnished  by  two  small  stores. 
The  surplus  farm  products  were  conveyed  to  Fred- 
ericksburg or  Alexandria  in  cumbrous  wagons. 
There  was  one  school,  two  or  three  physicians,  and 
there  was  no  use  for  a  lawyer.  There  were  no  beg- 
gars, and  few  flagrant  crimes  were  committed  by 
the  white  inhabitants.  The  slaves  were  generally 
well  treated  by  their  masters,  who  were  of  German 
descent.  There  were  several  families  in  the  hamlet 
and  several  in  the  neighborhood  of  a  culture  ad- 
vanced beyond  that  of  the  majority.  They  were  all 
hospitable  and  kind.  There  was  little  of  what  was 
even  then  called  wealth.  The  state  of  public  mor- 
ality was  far  above  that  of  many  other  villages  in 
Virginia  where  the  German  element  did  not  prevail. 
There  were  few  cases  of  gross,  habitual  intemper- 

(5.0 


52  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

ance,  and  I  do  not  remember  a  single  arrest  for  a 
gross  crime  during  my  residence  of  twenty  months. 

The  church  was  in  a  low  condition  before  Mr. 
Schmucker  took  charge  of  it,  a  few  years  previous 
to  my  going  there.  The  preaching  had  been  exclu- 
sively German  by  the  former  pastor  at  least,  and  the 
service  had  not  been  frequent.  The  settlement  of 
the  young  minister  was  quite  an  event  in  the  vicinity. 
He  was  the  only  really  educated  pastor  for  25  miles 
around ;  his  style  of  preaching  was  so  fresh  and  in- 
teresting; he  was  so  gentlemanly  and  neat  in  his 
appearance  and  withal  so  good-looking,  and  unmar- 
ried besides,  that  he  attracted  general  attention. 
The  parish  consisted  of  several  other  small  congre- 
gations, so  that  there  was  service  only  twice  a  month 
in  the  village  church. 

There  was  a  Methodist  church,  which  had  not 
then  arrived  at  perfect  sanctification,  and  an  old- 
school,  hard-shell,  iron-clad  Baptist  conventicle, 
which  had  not  had  all  its  actual  sins  washed  away 
by  immersion.  It  was  served  occasionally  by  an 
honest  old  farmer  named  Hershberger,  whose  Eng- 
lish was  not  of  the  purest  classic,  either  in  accent, 
pronunciation,  emphasis  or  grammar.  Immersion 
and  predestination,  neither  of  which  he  understood, 
were  his  unvarying  themes. 

There  was  a  settlement  of  Tunkers  in  the  neigh- 
borhood, the  principal  preacher  of  whom  was  a  good 
old  man  named  Keagy.  He  was  universally  re- 
spected for  his  blameless  life,  but  he  had  not  studied 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER. 


53 


theology.  I  occasionally  went  to  their  meetings  in 
the  country,  and  whenever  Father  Keagy  led  the 
worship  he  would  sing  a  long  metre  tune  to  a  com- 
mon metre  hymn,  or  vice  versa,  and  the  style  of  the 
music  may  be  imagined.  Whenever  he  preached 
English  he  always  introduced  Nathan's  parable  of 
the  ewe  lamb,  but  the  good  old  man's  interpretation 
was  original  and  queer.  He  took  the  word  ewe  for 
the  popular  diminutive  e-wee,  and  absolutely  thought 
that  Nathan  was  speaking  of  an  e-wee,  little  bit  of  a 
lamb ! !  And  yet  nobody  silently  laughed  but  my- 
self. I  presume  most  of  them  thought  it  was  all 
right. 

This  is  the  original  home  of  the  Henkel  family, 
whose  name  has  figured  in  the  church  for  many 
years.  Old  Paul  Henkel,  the  patriarch  of  the  family, 
was  living  when  I  went  there,  but  died  a  few  months 
afterwards.  He  was  a  venerable  old  gentleman, 
and  had  done  some  good  missionary  work  in  the 
earlier  part  of  this  century  in  Virginia  and  North 
Carolina.  He  had  not,  for  many  years,  attended 
the  old  Pennsylvania  Synod,  of  which  he  had  long 
been  a  member,  and  became  specially  estranged 
when  the  Eastern  Synods  joined  the  General  Synod, 
which  he  regarded  as  a  sort  of  antichrist.  Four  or 
five  of  his  sons  were  ministers,  but  I  never  saw  any 
of  them  (the  preachers)  except  Ambrose,  who  lived 
at  New  Market,  and  Charles,  whom  I  met  afterwards 
at  Germantown,  Ohio.  There  was  a  great  deal  of 
energy,  and  some  talent,  in  the  family.     They  kept 


54 


LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 


themselves  aloof  from  the  Eastern  Synods,  and  were 
the  originators  of  what  was  called  the  Tennessee 
Synod,  and  maintained  that  they  were  the  only  gen- 
uine Lutherans  in  the  country.  I  am  speaking  of 
seventy  years  ago.  Since  that  time  some  members 
of  the  Henkel  family  have  become  very  useful  men 
in  the  Church,  and  have  contributed  a  good  deal  to 
its  theology  and  literature  by  the  printing  of  useful 
books.  There  are  several  laymen  of  that  household 
who  have  become  influential  men,  and  are  patrons 
of  higher  education  and  of  progress.  Several  of 
them  have  become  eminent  physicians  and  men  of 
great  worth.  Some  years  ago  some  members  of 
that  family  published,  at  their  own  venture,  an  Eng- 
lish translation  of  the  Book  of  Concord.  The  Church 
was  hardly  ready  for  it,  but  the  enterprise  showed 
commendable  zeal  in  the  good  cause.  It  was  not 
well  translated,  but  still*  creditable  for  that  day  and 
for  the  men  who  executed  it.  I  presume  that  Prof. 
Jacobs'  new  translation  will  entirely  supersede  it, 
but  still  let  all  honor  be  given  to  the  Henkels  for 
their  pluck  and  energy. 

About  the  year  1877  several  of  the  surviving  mem- 
bers of  the  family,  on  their  own  responsibility,  began 
the  publication  of  a  weekly  religious  journal  called 
1 '  Our  Church  Paper, ' '  which  has  sustained  itself  to 
the  present  day. 

I  had  never  before  lived  in  a  place  where  there 
was  no  first-class  school,  no  reading  room,  no  news- 
paper printed,  no  debating  society,  no  band  of  music, 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  55 

no  musical  parties,  no  picnics  or  excursions,  no  pub- 
lic lectures,  not  even  a  show  or  exhibition  of  jug- 
glers. 

It  was  a  strange  transition  for  me,  who  was  fresh 
from  the  refined  society  of  Carlisle,  to  be  thrown 
among  these  people,  and  yet  I  by  no  means  underes- 
timated their  worthiness.  Providence  led  me  there, 
and  perhaps  I  learned  practical  lessons  of  life  which 
have  been  of  service  ever  since. 

Mr.  Schmucker  was  a  widower  at  that  time,  and 
had  much  leisure.  He  was  a  laborious  student,  and 
was  engaged  in  translating  Storr  and  Flatt's  Theol- 
ogy, which  was  published  at  Andover.  He  was  often 
absent  for  four  or  five  weeks,  during  which  I  read 
such  books  as  he  gave  me,  but  without  order  or  sys- 
tem and  perhaps  much  profit. 

My  fellow  students  were  John  P.  Cline  and  George 
Schmucker,  both  of  that  county ;  Samuel  K.  Hosh- 
our,  of  York  county,  Pa.  ;  Wm.  Keil,  an  honest, 
uncouth  German,  and  John  Reck.  Cline  was  a  man 
of  good  common  sense.  He  had  learned  the  carpen- 
ter trade,,  and  was  a  robust,  large-framed  man.  He 
and  George  Schmucker  had  never  been  out  of  Shen- 
andoah county,  and  knew  little  of  the  outside  world. 
They  still  cherished  many  of  the  prejudices  and 
errors  of  the  people  among  whom  they  had  been 
brought  up.  They  believed  in  ghosts,  omens, 
dreams,  and  witchcraft,  but  gave  up  these  silly 
notions  as  they  advanced  in  intelligence. 

Cline  became  a  very  useful  minister,  and  served 


56  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

churches  in  Maryland  and  Virginia,  and  died  after 
more  than  thirty  years  of  successful  work.  He  left 
a  large  family  not  unprovided  for,  and  one  of  his 
sons  is  in  our  ministry.  He  was  a  man  of  solid 
character  and  blameless  living.  John  Reck  was  a 
brother  of  that  most  excellent  of  men,  Abraham 
Reck.  He  was  faithful  in  his  work,  and  died  in 
Ohio  some  time  afterwards.  He  was  the  oldest  of 
us  except  Keil,  and  of  more  religious  experience. 
He  had  been  reading  with  his  brother  at  Winchester, 
and  had  also  preached.  He  came  to  us  under  the 
influence  of  some  feelings  and  opinions,  which  he 
abandoned  before  long.  George  Schmucker  was  the 
son  of  the  Rev.  Nicolas  Schmucker,  of  Shenandoah 
county,  and  a  cousin  of  our  teacher.  He  had  no 
education  when  he  joined  us,  and  was  exceedingly 
rustic,  but. he  had  some  brains  and  improved  fast. 
He  died  in  1886  in  southeast  Virginia,  and  belonged 
to  a  small  Synod  of  very  staunch  Lutherans.  A  son 
of  his  is  in  our  ministry  in  Ohio.  Samuel  Hoshour 
was  from  York  county,  Pa.,  and  had  studied  some 
Latin  and  Greek.  He  was  not  destitute  of  talent, 
and  was  an  earnest  Christian  man.  He  was  subject 
to  severe  attacks  of  hypochondria,  and  would  some- 
times alarm  us  and  the  neighborhood  by  his  excla- 
mations of  anguish  and  fear.  After  serving  several 
parishes  he  joined  the  Campbellites,  was  rebaptized, 
went  to  Indiana,  was  elected  professor  in  one  of 
their  schools,  and  became  quite  a  great  man  among 
them.     He  died  in    December,    1883.     Keil  was  a 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER. 


57 


German  oddity.  I  judge  he  was  nearly  forty  years 
of  age  when  he  joined  us — sincere,  rather  intelli- 
gent, by  turns  good-natured  and  violent  in  his  tem- 
per. He  made  good  progress,  for  he  was  incessantly 
at  his  books,  and  always  ready  for  an  argument. 
He  died  in  northwest  Pennsylvania. 

I  have  thought  it  well  to  give  these  faint  sketches 
of  men  who,  seventy  years  ago,  prepared  for  the 
Church  in  such  a  group  as  this. 

After  some  months  of  study  Mr.  Schmucker  al- 
lowed us  to  preach  in  the  country  school-houses,  and 
I  regard  it  as  a  useful  discipline  for  sober-minded 
students.  We  held  Sunday-School,  and  once  had  as 
many  as  85  scholars.  We  also  had  prayer-meetings 
in  the  old  log  church  and  in  private  houses,  and  we 
had  some  curious  experiences  with  a  few  women  who 
we  thought  were  "under  conviction."  We  prac- 
ticed the  old  "pray  on,  sister,"  system,  and  were 
real  Methodists  as  far  as  that  went,  and  with  the 
same  unstable  results. 

These  untrained  young  men  were,  of  course, 
obliged  to  learn  the  elements  of  higher  education, 
and  our  teacher,  to  save  time,  I  suppose,  by  not 
having  more  than  one  class,  put  us  all  together; 
and  here  was  I,  with  my  college  diploma  in  my 
pocket  and  graduated  with  honor,  absolutely  reciting 
Greek  grammar  and  the  elements  of  natural  philos- 
ophy and  other  primary  school  studies  with  young 
men  who  did  not  know  the  letters  of  the  Greek 
alphabet  nor  the  first  principles  of  any  science !     I 


58  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

was  often  indignant,  and  the  reminiscence  is  painful 
to  this  day.  I  once  alluded  to  it  in  a  meeting  of  the 
Seminary  Directors  years  afterwards.  The  professor 
evidently  understood  my  allusion,  but  made  no  reply. 

On  one  occasion  when  I  was  speaking  in  a  prayer- 
meeting  a  woman  fainted,  which,  of  course,  occa- 
sioned some  disturbance,  and  our  Methodist  friends 
said  that  there  was  now  evidence  that  there  was 
some  life  in  the  church,  for  a  woman  had  fainted 
under  the  preaching!  T!  But  when  shortly  after  I 
stopped  in  the  middle  of  a  prayer  because  I  was 
dreadfully  annoyed  by  the  holy  groaning  of  a  Meth- 
odist brother,  they  changed  their  minds,  and  de- 
nounced us  as  cold  and  dead ! ! ! 

It  was  at  a  Sunday  afternoon  Methodist  meeting 
where  I  first  saw  old  Paul  Henkel,  whom  I  was  sur- 
prised to  see  there,  and  who  was  seated,  by  way  of 
honor,  ' '  in  the  altar, ' '  as  they  called  it.  A  Boanerges 
named  Reily,  of  gigantic  stature  and  build,  and  with 
lungs  corresponding,  declaimed.  It  was  like  the 
"  voice  of  many  waters  "  tumultuously  rolling  over 
rocks  on  the  seashore ;  he  yelled  and  screamed  to 
about  a  hundred  of  us  as  if  he  were  addressing  five 
thousand  at  a  camp-meeting.  The  effect  upon  Mr. 
Henkel's  nerves  was  singular  and  ludicrous.  He 
writhed  in  his  chair  as  if  sitting  on  hot  coals;  his 
countenance  was  distorted  into  shapes  the  most  ab- 
surd; he  seemed  at  one  time  to  be  laughing,  and 
then  again  crying,  and  appeared  to  suffer  an  agony 
unspeakably  severe. 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  59 

During-  a  portion  of  the  time  spent  here  I  con- 
ducted a  Latin  correspondence  with  an  old  Princeton 
friend  named  Buzzard,  originally  from  Georgetown, 
D.  C.  He  afterwards  moved  to  Ohio,  and  changed 
his  name  to  Franklin.  He  was  a  mathematical 
genius,  and  I  believe  was  an  engineer  in  Ohio. 
Thirty-five  years  after  this,  when  I  was  in  the  Pea- 
body  Institute,  a  young  man  and  young  lady  came 
in  and  introduced  themselves  as  his  children,  they 
having  called  at  his  particular  request.  It  was  grat- 
ifying to  be  thus  remembered  by  an  old  college 
friend.  His  son  was  an  Episcopal  student  of  divin- 
ity, and  the  daughter  was  soon  afterwards  married. 

I  wrote  several  sermons  for  one  of  our  boys,  and 
also  a  love  letter,  which  I  was  happy  to  learn  re- 
sulted in  a  complete  reconciliation,  for  he  and  his 
lady  friend  had  quarreled;  but  they  were  never 
married. 

At  that  time  in  Virginia  every  able-bodied  man 
was  obliged  to  turn  out  and  work  one  day  upon  the 
public  highway,  or  get  a  substitute.  We  all  turned 
out,  I  for  the  fun  of  it,  and  worked  some  hours  in 
loading  carts  and  digging  dirt.  If  I  had  hired  a 
substitute,  I  would  have  been  denounced  as  proud 
and  having  no  religion.  I  made  a  holiday  of  it,  but 
I  can  now  say  that  for  one  day  I  was  a  highwayman 
in  Virginia ! ! ! 

I  should  have  said  that  during  the  twenty  months 
I  stayed  at  New  Market  I  read  a  good  deal  in  Bud- 
daeus  and  Hollaz,  went  through  Prideaux,   Camp- 


60  LIFE    REMINISCENCES   OF 

bell's  Gospels,  Home's  Introduction,  Reid's  Philoso- 
phy, Mosheim's  Church  History,  Bible  History, 
Jahn's  Archaeology,  and  some  others  not  remem- 
bered, besides  writing  frequent  compositions,  essays, 
skeletons,  etc.,  etc.  Our  teacher  gave  us  a  short 
course  of  lectures,  of  which  we  took  notes,  and  all 
this  in  addition  to  the  Greek  grammar  and  elements 
of  natural  philosophy  aforesaid.  He  had  studied  for 
some  time  at  Princeton  Seminary,  and  introduced 
among  us,  his  pupils,  some  practices  prevalent  in 
that  school.  One  of  them  was  the  observance  of  the 
first  Wednesday  of  every  month  as  a  day  for  special 
prayer  and  meditation.  All  study  was  laid  aside, 
and  it  was  a  sort  of  half  sacred,  holy  day,  which  was, 
however,  not  observed  by  himself,  nor  by  us  to  any 
special  profit.  I  looked  upon  it  as  a  piece  of  affected 
Puritanism,  and  paid  no  regard  to  it. 

On  going  to  Princeton  Seminary  afterwards  I 
found  the  custom  in  vogue.  The  Book  says,  "  Six 
days  shalt  thou  labor,"  but  these  people  say,  "  No, 
that  is  not  right ;  five  days  shalt  thou  labor  in  one  of 
the  weeks  of  the  month,  and  in  that  week  thou  shalt 
have  two  Sabbaths. ' '  For  years  I  could  not  shake 
off  the  unscriptural  feeling  that  the  first  Wednesday 
of  the  month  had  a  sort  of  sanctity  attached  to  it.  I 
think  we  had  better  be  satisfied  with  divine  ordi- 
nances, and  let  human  inventions  alone. 

I  do  not  think  it  was  ever  introduced  at  Gettys- 
burg by  the  same  professor. 

At  New  Market  game  was  plenty.     Even  bears 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  6l 

and  deer  were  shot  in  the  neighboring  mountains ; 
squirrels,  quail  and  pheasants  abounded  within  a 
mile  of  our  house,  but  I  presume  things  have 
changed  since  the  increase  of  population  and  the 
introduction  of  the  railroad.  But  strange  to  say  I 
never  saw  a  fishing-rod,  or  anybody  using  one  in  the 
Shenandoah. 

Our  teacher  once  showed  us  a  Review  of  Buck- 
land's  "Reliquiae  Diluvianiae; "  which  had  lately 
come  out,  and  created  an  immense  sensation,  and 
as  late  as  July,  1880,  I  wrote  a  little  article  for  the 
Observer,  of  which  the  following  is  an  extract.  One 
of  the  young  Henkels  had  sent  me  a  pamphlet  de- 
scribing a  cave,  which  gave  occasion  to  it : 

"  I  was  a  boy  resident  of  New  Market  when  Buckland's  Reli- 
quiae Diluvianiae  first  appeared.  This  was  many  years  ago  ;  but 
having  read  a  review  of  that  book,  I  was  fired  with  an  enthusi- 
asm for  cave  exploration  and  the  collection  of  what  we  then 
considered  antediluvian  remains,  and  certain  evidences  of  the 
Noachic  deluge.  That  idea  is  long  since  exploded — not  that  of 
the  deluge,  but  that  cave  bones  afford  any  proof  of  it.  Well, 
several  other  stout  young  fellows  and  I  were  told  of  a  cave  sev- 
eral miles  south  of  the  village,  and,  arming  ourselves  with  pick- 
axe and  shovel,  we  started  one  Saturday  afternoon  on  a  scientific 
tour — and  we  knew  about  as  much  of  science  as  we  did  of  the 
Telugu  language.  But  we  entered  and  digged,  and  collected  a 
pile  of  bones,  but  whether  they  were  human,  or  reptilian,  or 
bovine,  or  lupine,  or  asinine,  we  did  not  know ;  but  we  were 
desperately  fatigued.  We  did  not  proceed  very  far,  for  we  were 
afraid  that  some  spiteful  gnome  or  Shenandoah  county  spook 
(for  they  were  believed  in  at  that  time)  might  rush  out  upon  us 
from  some  Tartarean  crevice,  for  so  ruthlessly  invading  his  sub- 
terranean dominion." 


62  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

In  the  summer  of  1882,  more  than  fifty  years  after 
my  residence  in  New  Market,  I  visited  it  upon  the 
invitation  of  a  society  connected  with  the  Polytech- 
nic School  to  deliver  an  oration.  I  was  kindly  re- 
ceived by  everybody;  I  visited  the  old  graveyard 
and  the  old  house  in  which  I  studied,  and  various 
other  places  of  interest  in  the  vicinity,  among  them 
the  cave,  a  few  miles  distant.  I  met  several  children 
of  my  old  fellow-student,  John  P.  Cline,  who  died 
some  years  ago.  The  town  has  made  some  improve- 
ments. We  have  two  churches  entirely  English, 
and  there  are  good  schools,  and  several  newspapers 
are  published  by  the  Henkels. 

The  following  little  incident  might  as  well  be  men- 
tioned m  connection  with  my  New  Market  career. 
It  is  one  of  many: 

A  young  man  of  the  village  asked  me  to  be  his 
groomsman.  We  rode  in  company  to  Woodstock, 
the  county  seat,  to  get  the  marriage  license.  The 
clerk  of  the  court  required  him  to  prove  that  he  was 
21  years  of  age.  What  was  to  be  done?  We  were 
twenty  miles  from  home,  and  the  wedding  was  to 
take  place  next  day.  We  were  in  a  quandary.  He 
at  length  thought  of  some  old  woman  who  was  ac- 
quainted with  his  family,  and  he  hastened  to  her  for 
relief.  She  said  she  was  willing  to  swear  that  his 
sister,  younger  than  himself,  was  22,  but  she  would 
not  swear  that  he  was  21!!!  I  do  not  remember 
how  it  was  arranged,  but,  at  any  rate,  we  got  the 
license. 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  63 

During  a  vacation  at  New  Market  I  visited  the 
Natural  Bridge,  and  stopped  one  night  at  Lexing- 
ton, at  the  house  of  Col.  McClung,  who  kept  the 
hotel.  Dr.  Alexander  and  his  wife  were  on  a  visit 
there,  for  the  Colonel  was  his  brother-in-law.  I 
introduced  myself  to  the  Doctor,  observing  that  I 
had  often  heard  him  preach  at  Princeton  when  I  was 
a  student  at  Nassau  Hall.  He  was  very  cordial,  and 
expressed  his  gratification  that  I  was  studying  theol- 
ogy with  one  of  his  former  pupils,  S.  S.  Schmucker. 
He  made  many  inquiries  concerning  our  Church. 

That  part  of  Virginia  had  been  the  field  of  his 
early  labors  in  the  ministry,  where  he  was  a  popular 
young  man.  He  told  me  many  interesting  incidents 
of  his  youthful  career,  and  among  others  the  follow- 
ing: He  said  he  was  once  preaching  in  that  neigh- 
borhood, and  all  of  a  sudden  he  came  to  a  dead  stop. 
He  had  lost  his  thread  of  argument,  and  did  not  re- 
cover it  for  about  thirty  seconds.  There  was  an 
awful  silence  in  the  congregation,  for  apparently  a 
deep  impression  had  been  made.  Every  eye  was 
intently  fixed  upon  him,  and  with  almost  breathless 
interest  they  waited  for  what  was  to  come.  He  him- 
self was  confused  almost  to  fainting,  but  he  pro- 
ceeded to  talk  in  a  bungling  way,  until  he  completely 
recovered  his  usual  tranquillity.  After  service  the 
most  influential  and  intelligent  gentleman  present, 

Col.  ,  approached  him  and  congratulated  him 

warmly,  exclaiming,  ' '  Capital !  wonderful !  I  never 
heard  it  so  well  done  before!     Just  at  the  proper 


64  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

time — just  long  enough!  What  a  deep  impression 
it  made!  Wonderful!"  Mr.  A.  inquired,  "  Why, 
Colonel,  what  do  you  mean?"  "  Why,  sir,"  he  re- 
plied, "  that  pause,  sir,  that  pause:  Never  heard  it 
so  well  done !  Really,  Mr.  A. ,  I  did  not  know  you 
had  that  much  rhetorical  art!"  I  do  not  know 
whether  he  informed  the  Colonel  that  the  pause, 
which  was  so  impressive  to  him  and  others,  was  a 
blundering  act  of  forgetfulness,  but  he  told  the 
story  to  me  with  great  glee.  When  I  became  a 
pupil  of  Dr.  Alexander,  several  years  afterwards  at 
Princeton,  I  remember  him  telling  the  class,  in  his 
homiletical  lectures,  that  if  we  should  ' '  lose  the 
thread  of  our  discourse, ' '  not  to  stop,  but  talk  right 
on  at  random,  for  we  would  soon  recover,  and  few 
people  would  observe  the  blunder.  He  did  not, 
however,  tell  us  the  anecdote  above. 

A  singular  case  of  kleptomania  was  developed  just 
at  that  time  in  that  vicinity,  which  was  talked  of  by 
everybody,  and  made  a  great  noise.  I  would  not 
speak  of  it,  but  it  concerned  an  old  classmate  of 
mine,  who  was  a  Presbyterian  minister  in  that 
county.  His  young  and  highly  accomplished  wife 
took  anything  she  could  lay  her  hands  upon,  how- 
ever trifling.  Even  while  singing  pious  hymns  at 
the  bedside  of  the  sick,  she  would  take  thimbles, 
needles,  napkins,  medicine  spoons,  and  everything 
which  she  could  conveniently  hide.  A  terrible  mal- 
ady— for  such  it  really  is.  I  have  known  several 
cases  of  this  infirmity,  and  I  suppose  they  are  very 
hard  to  cure. 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  65 

In  1825  our  teacher  married  his  second  wife,  and, 
having  been  previously  elected  professor  in  the 
Theological  Seminary  that  was  to  be  opened  some 
months  afterwards  in  Gettysburg,  he  never  returned 
to  New  Market  to  live,  but  staid  with  his  father-in- 
law,  seven  miles  east  of  the  village.  Hoshour  and  I 
were  the  only  students  left,  and  the  teacher  would 
occasionally  come  to  town  to  hear  us  recite,  after  a 
fashion.  I  do  not  remember  why  I  did  not  leave 
before,  but  I  presume  it  was  vacation  time  at  other 
Seminaries,  and  I  thought  I  might  as  well  spend  a 
few  months  there  as  anywhere  else.  I  am  certain  it 
was  not  for  the  benefit  of  the  teaching. 

He  resigned  his  place  as  pastor,  and  Hoshour  was 
chosen  in  his  place,  and  accepted  it.  He  was  anx- 
ious to  visit  his  friends  in  York  county,  Pa. ,  before 
he  began  his  pastoral  work,  and  he  and  I  bought 
a  horse,  and  we  traveled  to  York,  "ride  and  tie," 
as  it  was  called.  One  of  us  was  to  ride  six  miles 
ahead  while  the  other  walked,  and  would  find  the 
horse  at  a  designated  place,  but  usually  we  kept 
in  company.  My  luggage  had  been  sent  ahead  by 
stage. 

Thus  endeth  the  chapter  of  my  career  at  New 
Market. 

STUDENT    LIFE    AT    NAZARETH. 

The  question  again  was,  What  is  now  to  be  done? 

Our  own  Seminary  was  not  opened,  and  I  did  not 

care  about  going  to  Princeton  just  then,  and  I  would 

not  listen  to  several  propositions  that  were  made  to 

5 


66  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

me  from  other  quarters  to  settle  as  a  pastor.  Upon 
consideration  it  was  resolved  that  I  should  spend  the 
winter  among  the  Moravians,  studying  German  and 
Hebrew.  I  thought  that  a  pure  German  was  spoken 
by  them,  and  probably  nothing  else,  and  that  surely 
one  of  their  men  would  teach  me  Hebrew. 

I  took  letters  from  the  Moravian  minister  at  York, 
named  Leffler,  and  proceeded  to  Lititz;  but  they 
would  not  take  me  as  a  pupil,  and  advised  me  to  go 
to  Bethlehem.  I  went  to  Bethlehem,  and  had  no 
better  success;  thence  to  Nazareth,  where  I  was  re- 
ceived. A  young  man  named  Shulze,  who  has  since 
become  a  bishop,*  agreed  to  teach  me  Hebrew,  and 
I  expected  to  learn  German  more  from  conversation 
than  from  books;  but  I  found  that  English  was 
almost  exclusively  spoken  by  the  divinity  students, 
and  I,  of  course,  learned  little  more  than  I  knew. 

My  mother,  who  had  a  most  exalted  idea  of  Mo- 
ravian piety,  inspired  me  with  the  same  sentiment, 
and  I  went  among  them  with  the  expectation  that  I 
would  there  be  about  as  near  heaven  as  any  place  on 
earth.  From  report  I  was  led  in  advance  to  admire 
the  simplicity  of  their  manners,  the  uprightness  of 
their  lives,  and  their  missionary  zeal,  but  I  found 
they  were  people  of  like  passions  with  others.  They 
were  trained  to  regard  themselves  as  foreign  mis- 
sionaries whenever  and  wherever  the  church  re- 
quired their  services.  There  was  no  question, 
"  Shall  I  go?     Does  the  Lord  want  me  among  the 

*  Died  in  1885,  aged  So  years. 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  6j 

heathen?"  but  every  one  felt  himself  already  called 
to  the  -work,  and  only  waited  for  Providence,  through 
the  church,  to  designate  the  field.  One  day  word 
came  that  a  missionary  was  wanted  in  Barbadoes, 
in  the  place  of  one  who  had  died.  The  lot  fell  upon 
Mr.  Zorn,  who  immediately  set  to  work,  and  was 
ready  in  less  than  two  hours.  But  Brother  Zorn  was 
a  single  man,  and  at  that  time  they  did  not  send  out 
unmarried  men.  Brother  Zorn  was  not  engaged, 
and  had  no  preference — perhaps  had  never  visited 
any  lady.  The  church  soon  settled  that  matter,  and, 
by  lot  it  was  declared  to  be  the  Lord's  will  that 
Sister  Elizabeth,  at  Bethlehem,  should  be  Brother 
Zorn's  wife,  whom  he  had  probably  never  seen. 
They  were  married,  and  went. 

While  I  did  not  find  the  heaven  on  earth  I  so  ar- 
dently expected,  I  spent  a  very  happy  and  profitable 
winter  among  them,  and  still  cherish  pleasing  re- 
membrances, of  that  remarkable  people.  In  those 
days  none  but  Moravians  lived  in  Nazareth  and 
Bethlehem,  and  perhaps  in  Emmaus;  but  at  present, 
and  for  some  years  past,  they  have  sold  lots  and 
houses  to  people  of  other  churches,  and  the  distinct- 
ive and  exclusive  Moravianism  of  these  places  no 
longer  prevails.  We  have  several  churches  there, 
and  several  of  our  ministers  live  there. 

It  was  in  January,  1825,  that  I  went  to  Nazareth, 
and  remained  there  several  months.  Mr.  Shulze 
came  to  my  room  in  the  hotel  where  I  boarded,  and 
heard  my  lessons.      I   became   acquainted   With  no 


63  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

persons  except  the  divinity  students,  and  some  of 
the  teachers,  and  a  few  retired  old  ministers.  The 
students  were  a  cheerful  set  of  young  men,  whose 
manners  and  habits  were  very  different  from  what 
I  had  been  led  to  expect,  and  which  would  have 
given  great  offence  to  many  persons.  My  training 
was  of  a  contrary  character,  and  perhaps  not  more 
consistent  with  the  Christian  profession.  Their  ob- 
servance of  the  Lord's  Day  was  very  different  from 
what  I  had  been  taught,  but  I  would  not  say  that 
my  teaching  was  more  Scriptural.  None  of  these 
young  men  visited  young  ladies,  in  which  recreation 
so  many  theological  students  of  other  schools  lose  so 
much  time,  and,  some  of  them  at  least,  are  beguiled 
into  premature  and  injudicious  matrimonial  engage- 
ments, or  what  is  worse,  into  the  violation  of  previ- 
ous ones.  A  sad  history  might  be  written  on  this 
subject.  These  Nazareth  young  divinities  could  not 
become  engaged,  for  they  saw  no  young  ladies,  and 
besides,  as  the  church  arranged  such  affairs,  they  had 
nothing  actively  to  do  with  it.  Hence,  there  was  no 
precious  time  lost  in  writing  frequent  letters  of 
doubtful  propriety,  no  money  spent  for  presents 
which  should  have  been  laid  out  in  books,  no  dress- 
ing beyond  their  ability  to  pay,  and  no  extrava- 
gant patronizing  of  confectioners'  shops.  I  wonder 
whether  some  of  our  young  men,  who  have  hurried 
into  such  tender  alliances,  have  not  wrished  that  the 
church  had  had  the  arrangement  of  such  matters,  at 
least  as  far  as  their  case  was  concerned. 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  69 

I  never  ascertained  what  was  their  curriculum  of 
theological  study,  never  having  been  invited  into  the 
lecture  room,  and  seeing  no  programme.  They  were 
very  orthodox,  and  recognized  the  Augsburg  Confes- 
sion as  their  Creed.  Their  own  ecclesiastical  history 
is  interesting ;  the  labors  of  Zinzendorf  in  this  coun- 
try were  abundant  and  successful,  although  our  own 
earlier  missionaries  contemporary  with  him  here  do 
not  always  speak  most  favorably  of  him  (see  Hall- 
ische  Nachrichten) ;  but  perhaps  this  may  have  arisen 
from  jealousy,  and  supposed  interference  with  their 
work. 

When  I  was  at  New  Market  I  read  Heckenwelder's 
book  on  his  labors  among  the  North  American  In- 
dians in  Pennsylvania,  which  interested  me  exceed- 
ingly. I  conceived  a  romantic  admiration  of  him  and 
his  fellow-workmen.  One  day  when  I  was  straying 
through  the  beautiful  graveyard,  I  saw  the  name  of 
Zeisberger  upon  a  tomb-stone,  and  it  was  the  grave 
of  the  veritable  man  whom  I  revered  for  his  mis- 
sionary zeal. 

Whenever  there  was  a  death  in  the  congregation 
it  was  announced  from  the  steeple  by  a  dirge  from 
the  band,  and  on  festivals,  New  Year  or  Easter, 
there  were  solemn  religious  services  held  in  the 
cemetery,  with  instrumental  music;  and  yet  this 
people,  with  all  their  purity  of  life,  their  self-denying 
misssionary  activity,  their  unaffected  piety,  would 
not  be  regarded  as  good  Christians  by  some  because 
they  did  not  practice  a  puritanic  observance  of  what 
is  called  the  Sabbath,  instead  of  the  Lord's  Day. 


yo  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

I  laid  a  pretty  good  foundation  of  Hebrew,  but  I 
made  no  progress  in  German,  for  I  seldom  heard 
anything  but  English  spoken  except  from  the  old 
people,  and  I  saw  few  of  them.  The  public  service 
and  worship  were  in  German. 

I  left  them  with  regret,  having  conceived  a  very 
exalted  idea  of  their  purity  of  life  and  Christian  zeal. 

THE    GENERAL    SYNOD    AT    FREDERICK,    MD.,    IN     1825. 

I  was  a  looker-on  at  the  meeting  of  the  General 
Synod  at  Frederick,  in  1825,  at  which  only  three 
Synods  were  represented, — Maryland  and  Virginia, 
united  in  one  at  that  time,  West  Pennsylvania  and 
North  Carolina;  and  there  were  only  eight  clerical 
members !     Times  are  changed,  and  we  with  them ! ! 

At  this  meeting  the  Rev.  Benjamin  Kurtz,  at  that 
time  pastor  at  Hagerstown,  Md.,  was  appointed  to 
go  to  Europe  to  collect  funds  for  the  Theological 
Seminary  which  was  to  be  established.  He  went, 
and  ne\rer  was  any  work  more  laboriously  and  con- 
scientiously performed  than  this  mission.  He  was 
absent  two  years  and  brought  home  about  §12,000  in 
money,  collected  with  great  difficulty,  and  a  large 
number  o£  books,  many  of  which  were  of  no  value, 
and  now  encumber  the  shelves  of  the  Seminary 
library ;  but  Mr.  Kurtz  was  in  duty  bound  to  accept 
everything  offered  to  him.  The  history  of  this  mis- 
sion is  interesting,  and  will  be  found  in  the  early 
volumes  of  the  Lutheran  Intelligencer,  in  my  "  Fifty 
Years, ' '  and  in  my  History  of  the  Seminary,  in  the 
Ez  'angelical  Review,  1876. 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  7 1 

Rev.  B.  Kurtz  stated  to  Synod  that  a  certain  Mr. 
Rowles,  a  Yankee  schoolmaster,  in  Hagerstown,  who 
had  wormed  himself  into  the  good  graces  of  Rev. 
K.,  proposed  to  write  a  history  of  the  Lutheran 
Church  in  the  United  States.  He  could  not  read 
nor  speak  a  word  of  German;  he  was  not  reared 
among  our  people,  and  was  an  entire  stranger  to  our 
theology,  church  polity,  and  everything  else  that  a 
historian  should  know.  Mr.  Kurtz  injudiciously  en- 
couraged the  man  in  his  presumptuous  purpose,  and 
urged  the  Synod  to  do  the  same;  but  Mr.  S.  S. 
Schmucker,  more  keen-sighted  and  intelligent  on 
this  subject,  and  aware  of  the  utter  incompetency  of 
the  man  for  the  work,  quietly  and  adroitly  got  rid  of 
the  whole  affair,  and  without  offending  Mr.  Kurtz, 
by  offering  the  sensible  resolution  that  Mr.  Rowles 
be  requested  to  spend  several  years  in  collecting 
materials  for  his  history! ! !     This  was  the  last  of  it. 

I  remained  until  after  the  meeting  of  the  Synod, 
when  Mr.  Schaeffer,  the  pastor,  requested  me  to 
preach.  I  now  occasionally  meet  a  rather  oldish 
gentleman  who  reminds  me  of  that  sermon  of  over 
60  years  ago.  He  says  my  text  was,  "  Woe  unto 
them  that  are  at  ease  in  Zion. "  He  remembers 
more  about  it  than  I  did,  or  cared  about  doing 
myself. 

After  I  had  preached  this  sermon  somewhere — I 
will  not  say  where — the  pastor  rose  and  nattered  his 
people  by  the  assurance  that  the  sermon  just 
preached  could  not  be  applied  to  them,  for  every- 


72  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

body  knew  they  were  not  ' '  asleep  in  Zion, ' '  but 
wide  awake,  and  then  he  proceeded  to  enumerate 
their  Christian  virtues  and  convinced  them  that  they 
were  the  best  people  in  all  the  country  round.  It 
was  easy  to  convince  them  of  that,  and  no  wonder 
their  minister  was  a  very  popular  man.  A  few  years 
after,  our  Synod  met  in  the  same  church,  and  when, 
at  the  preparatory  service,  I  made  some  common- 
place remarks  on  the  questions,  What  am  I  ?  What 
am  I  doing?  Whither  am  I  going?  the  pastor  ross 
and  answered  my  questions  for  his  people  by  saying 
that  they  were  a  very  good  people,  doing  their  duty, 
and  were  fast  on  their  way  to  heaven ! ! !  Blessed 
people!     Happy  pastor! 

STUDENT    LIFE    AT    PRINCETON    SEMINARY,    1825-1826. 

I  left  Nazareth  in  the  Spring  of  1825,  and  a  short 
time  after  proceeded  to  Princeton,  but  I  could  not 
be  admitted  because  I  had  neglected  to  take  a  cer- 
tificate of  church  membership  with  me.  This  was 
indispensable.  I  immediately  wrote  to  York  and  the 
Rev.  J.  G.  Schmucker  sent  me  one,  although  he  had 
not  confirmed  me ;  but  the  Faculty  at  Princeton  were 
satisfied  with  it,  thus  showing  it  to  be  a  mere  form. 
This  consumed  four  or  six  days,  for  the  mail  did  not 
travel  as  fast  in  those  days  as  at  present,  and  there 
was  no  telegraph. 

I  was  admitted  to  the  Senior  Class,  as  a  sort  of 
"Irregular,"  not  having  pursued  the  same  course 
with  it  in  its  last  term;  but  I  enjoyed  all  its  advan- 


AN    OLI>    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  73 

tages  and  was  to  all  intents  admitted  "  ad  eundem," 
on  a  perfect  equality,  without,  however,  the  privi- 
lege of  graduation.  I  was  also  accorded  the  favor  of 
attending  the  lectures  of  all  the  other  professors, 
omitting  some  of  the  hours  of  the  Senior  Class ;  for 
instance,  Dr.  Hodge's  Hebrew  and  Greek,  and  a  few 
other  subjects,  which  I  had  gone  over,  and  in  one 
of  which  I  was  really  in  advance  of  the  Senior  Class. 
I  do  not  mean  that  I  knew  it  better,  but  because 
they  were  just  at  that  time  studying  it,  and  I  had 
already  gone  over  it.  I  met  here  eight  or  ten  men 
whom  I  had  known  in  Princeton  and  Dickinson  Col- 
leges, so  that  I  felt  perfectly  at  home,  and  went  to 
work  with  a  will.  I  was  soon  elected  a  member  of 
the  Round  Table  Club,  a  sort  of  intellectual  aristo- 
crats, some  of  whom  were  not  superior  to  others 
outside.  We  met  once  a  week  to  discuss  high  the- 
ology, and  it  was  considered  quite  a  distinction  to  be 
elected,  and  of  course  it  created  jealousy  in  others. 
The  number  was  small,  very  select  and  very  conse- 
quential !  I  do  not  know  whether  the  Club  has  been 
perpetuated.  As  well  as  I  can  remember  no  minutes 
of  proceedings  were  kept,  and  secrecy  was  observed. 
I  do  not  think  it  ever  amounted  to  much,  but  there 
was  a  ludicrous  display  of  learning  and  an  affectation 
of  profound  wisdom. 

Professor  Hodge  had  a  private  class  of  more  ad- 
vanced students  of  Hebrew,  which  I  joined,  and  I 
remember  the  surprise  which  my  pronunciation  and 
accent  occasioned  the  first  time  I  was  called  on  to 


74  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

recite.  I  gave  it  the  deep,  guttural,  sonorous  tone, 
according  to  the  German  style,  and  they  the  flat 
American,  which  deprives  it  of  half  of  its  energy. 

Soon  after  I  entered,  I  was  sent  for  one  morning 
by  Professor  Hodge,  much  to  my  surprise.  I  went 
to  his  study  and  found  that  he  wanted  me  to  help 
him  in  some  German  translation  he  was  making  for 
a  theological  journal  he  was  editing,  but  I  could  ren- 
der him  very  little  assistance. 

In  1880,  a  life  of  Dr.  Hodge,  by  his  son,  was  pub- 
lished, which  is  a  model  biography  of  a  model  man. 
How  charmingly  it  delineates  the  character  of  that 
most  excellent  man,  and  how  attractive  the  book  to 
all  readers  of  taste  and  intelligence ! 

In  an  old  letter  of  mine  to  my  dear  friend,  the 
Rev.  Dr.  C.  P.  Krauth,  Sen.,  I  find  the  following 
account  of  a  visit  I  made  to  Dr.  Hodge,  several 
years  after  my  student  life  at  Princeton : 

"I  was  received  with  great  kindness  by  the  Professors,  and 
arn  staying  with  Dr.  Hodge,  who  insisted  upon  it.  You  know 
that  for  seven  months  he  has  been  upon  his  back,  on  account 
of  a  diseased  thigh  joint,  but  he  still  lectures  to  his  class  who 
are  seated  around  his  bed,  whilst  he  reads  and  expounds  .  .  . 
He  is  an  enthusiastic  admirer  of  Germany,  and  you  may  well 
imagine  the  tenor  of  onr  conversation.  We  spoke  of  men,  man- 
ners and  things,  professors  and  students,  books  and  authors, 
church  and  state,  mind  and  matter,  kings  and  subjects,  nobles 
and  ignobles,  orthodox  and  heterodox,  and  many  other  things. 
He  tells  me  that  a  man  may  become  as  learned  in  a  garret  in 
America  as  in  a  garret  in  Halle,  and  that  the  only  advantage  in 
going  to  a  German  university  is  in  learning  the  men  and  the 
state  of  opinion  in  the  theological  world,  the  modes  of  instruc- 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  75 

tion,  and  the  benefit  of  seeing  and  conversing  with  distinguished 
scholars  .  .  .  He  says  that  Gesenius  reads  his  printed  Isaiah  to 
his  class,  and  when  asked  why  he  does  not  recommend  his 
pupils  to  buy  the  book  and  read  it  for  themselves  he  replies, 
'  How  many  can  afford  to  do  it?  perhaps  ten  in  three  hundred.' 
.  .  He  told  me  many  anecdotes  of  the  professors,  their 
affairs,  sayings,  quarrels  and  jealousies.  When  he  saw  Mar- 
heiuecke,  of  Berlin,  the  latter  said  of  Halle,  '  Da  herschet  die 
lebendige  Dummheit.'  " 

Drs.  Miller,  Alexander  and  Hodge  were  the  only- 
professors  in  my  time,  and  they  were  the  excellent 
of  the  earth.  Dr.  Miller  lectured  on  Church  History. 
He  knew  not  a  word  of  German,  and  could  not  avail 
himself  of  German  writers,  even  at  that  day,  unless 
they  had  written  in  Latin.  His  lectures  on  other 
branches  were  good,  but  his  manner  was  cold  and 
unsympathetic,  and  did  not  arouse  the  enthusiasm 
of  his  pupils.*  Dr.  Alexander,  as  a  lecturer,  was  of 
a  different  character,  and  Hodge,  then  a  compara- 
tively young  man,  was  sprightly  and  attractive. 

One  hot  summer  afternoon,  during  one  of  Dr. 
Miller's  lectures  on  Church  History,  he  was  inter- 
rupted, and  the  rest  of  us  excited  to  a  laugh,  by  a 
loud,  sonorous  snore,  which  came  from  the  son  of  a 
college  President.  The  Doctor  stopped,  and  re- 
marking, with  a  deep-drawn  sigh,  * '  Ah !  how  much 
we  have  to  bear  in  this  world, ' '  proceeded  with  his 
lecture. 

On  a  visit  to  Princeton  some  years  afterwards  I 
congratulated  the  Doctor  upon  his  healthy  appear- 
ance.     ' '  Yes, ' '.  said  he,  ' '  I  feel  much  better  since 


76  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

I've  quit  drinking!"  Observing  my  surprise,  he 
continued,  ' '  For  some  years,  by  the  advice  of  my 
physician,  I  drank  every  day  just  one  glass  of  the 
best  wine  I  could  buy  in  New  York,  but  I  have  quit 
it,  and  feel  much  better  ever  since. ' ' 

I  had  scarcely  got  well  settled  at  Princeton  when 
I  was  invited  to  preach  at  Philadelphia  by  the  people 
who  subsequently  became  St.  Matthew's  congrega- 
tion, but  I  refused.  I  was  afraid  that  perhaps  I 
might  be  tempted  by  the  flattering  prospect  of  things 
to  rush  into  the  ministry  before  I  had  finished  my 
Seminary  course.  I  was  urged  to  accept  the  call, 
for  it  really  amounted  to  that,  by  S.  S.  Schmucker, 
who  had  heard  of  it,  which  perhaps  was  well  meant, 
but  which  displeased  me  much,  for  I  was  still  writh- 
ing under  some  unhappy  reminiscences. 

Theological  questions  were  discussed  in  general 
meeting  in  the  presence  of  the  professors,  who  would 
then  sum  up  the  arguments  and  give  their  own  opin- 
ion. On  one  occasion  I  prepared  myself  particularly 
well,  and  was  highly  complimented  by  Dr.  Miller, 
far  beyond  my  deserving.  This  brought  me  into 
some  trouble,  for  after  that  I  was  frequently  requested 
to  open  the  discussion  of  questions  by  men  who  had 
been  appointed,  but  I  constantly  refused,  for  I  knew 
I  was  not  competent  to  the  task,  and  was  afraid  of 
losing  the  good  character  I  had  gained.  Some  of 
the  questions  discussed  at  these  meetings  were,  {<  Is 
Adam  a  federal  head  of  his  posterity?"  "  Is  regen- 
eration the  effect  of  moral  suasion?"   "  Is  God  bound 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  77 

to  execute  his  vindicatory  justice?"  "Are  the  proph- 
ecies relating  to  the  future  condition  of  the  Jews  to 
be  understood  literally  or  figuratively?"  and  others 
of  a  similar  character.  There  were  not  a  few  clear- 
headed, intelligent  and  well-educated  young  fellows 
among  us,  who  handled  these  questions  with  great 
ability. 

On  one  occasion  I  remember  that  the  question  was 
of  a  profoundly  metaphysical  character.  Some  of 
the  disputants  complained  that  it  was  too  abstract 
and  unpractical.  The  well  known  theologian,  George 
Bush,  who  had  not  yet  become  a  Swedenborgian, 
was  present  on  a  visit,  and  in  reference  to  the  com- 
plaint made  about  the  subject  coolly  observed  that 
1 '  dogs  bark  at  strangers, ' '  and  then  went  on  to  dis- 
cuss the  matter  most  learnedly. 

There  is  a  queer  incident  related  of  this  eccentric 
genius  in  the  "  Life  of  Hodge,"  p.  53.  He  was  once 
overwhelmed  with  a  fear  of  the  desertion  of  God 
because  he  had  killed  a  mouse. 

High  Calvinism  was  in  the  ascendency ,  but  there 
were  also  a  few  Hopkinsians.  I  was  considered  as 
thoroughly  unorthodox,  because  I  could  not  adopt 
the  extreme  Calvinistic  views  on  predestination  and 
their  Puritanic  (not  Calvinistic)  opinions  concerning 
the  sacraments  and  ' '  The  Sabbath. ' '  They  did  not 
like  it  at  all  when  I  asked  them  why  they  did  not 
adopt  Calvin's  opinions  on  all  subjects,  particularly 
on  the  Sabbath,  the  Lord's  Supper,  and  other  points. 
On  the  Lord's   Supper  they  were   Zwinglian,   but 


78  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

really  most  of  them  knew  very  little  upon  the  sub- 
ject. These  men  were  honest  and  upright,  as  far  as 
I  knew,  and  general  harmony  prevailed  among  them, 
although  often  there  were  fierce  theological  conflicts. 

More  than  three-fourths  of  them  were  benefi- 
ciaries, of  whom  some  dressed  much  better  than  I 
did ;  others  were  meagre  enough  in  their  wardrobe, 
but  that  depended  upon  the  church  which  supported 
them.  To  one  of  our  dandy  charity  students  I  once 
loaned  $40,  but  he  has  forgotten  to  return  it  to  this 
day.  He  never  amounted  to  anything  in  the  church, 
and  for  many  years  he  was  a  clerk  in  a  government 
office  in  Washington.  He  never  was  elected  as  pas- 
tor of  any  church. 

As  I  said  before,  the  students  were  men  of  blame- 
less lives,  but  their  views  of  some  subjects  seemed 
strange  to  me.  Many  would  talk  on  all  manner  of 
matters  on  Sunday,  and  laugh  and  joke,  and  yet 
these  same  men  would  not  write  a  letter  to  their 
parents  even  on  that  day,  because  writing  implied 
work.  I  never  argued  the  question  with  them,  for 
it  did  not  concern  me.  I  have  before  stated  a  similar 
fact  in  relation  to  some  pious  college  students  in 
Nassau  Hall. 

Some  of  our  own  church  ministers  who  lived  in 
towns  where  Presbyterianism  prevailed  also  con- 
ceived similar  views  of  the  sanctity  of  ' '  The  Sab- 
bath, "  as  I  experienced  some  years  afterwards.  One 
Sunday  morning  during  very  hot  weather  I  was  sit- 
ting in  the  front  parlor  of  one  of  our  ministers  in  a 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTEI 


79 


prominent  inland  town.  The  shutters  were  closed, 
and  I  threw  them  open  to  enjoy  fresh  air.  The  pas- 
tor rather  violently  remonstrated,  as  though  I  had 
committed  a  grievous  fault,  and  said,  "  Don't  you 
know  it  is  the  Sabbath,  and  what  will  the  Presby- 
terians say  who  pass  by  here  on  their  way  to  church 
when  they  see  my  shutters  open?" 

I  also  remember  once  giving  offence  to  a  professor 
of  one  of  our  colleges  because  in  a  Wednesday  night 
lecture  before  the  students  I  said  ' '  I  did  not  think 
it  was  a  violation  of  the  '  Sabbath  '  for  a  man  to 
shave  himself  on  that  day. ' '     Sancta  simplicitas  ! 

It  was  a  fact  then  as  it  is  now  among  theological 
students,  that  more  than  three-fourths  of  them  were 
engaged  to  be  married.  There  was  consequently 
much  writing  that  was  neither  theology  nor  sermons. 
I  know  of  two  who  compared  their  letters  to  their 
absent  friends  to  determine  which  could  write  the 
most  ardently  and  lovingly.  It  is  said  that  one  of 
them  acknowledged  himself  conquered  before  the 
half  of  his  competitor's  letter  was  read.  I  am  sat- 
isfied from  observation  that  these  premature  and 
often  inconsiderate  engagements  sadly  interfere  with 
the  happiness  and  success  of  theological  students. 
Many  precious  hours  are  wasted  in  vapid  corres- 
pondence ;  much  annoying  anxiety  is  suffered ;  jeal- 
ousies and  rivalries  are  often  aroused ;  in  not  a  few 
instances  the  long  engagements  end  in  separations. 
Not  a  few  young  men,  as  their  education  advances 
and  their  experience  is  extended,  discover  that  the 


8o  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

choice  of  their  juvenile  years  was  not  judicious,  and 
they  change  their  minds  to  their  own  discredit  and 
the  disappointment  and  wretchedness  of  the  lady  in 
question.  Some,  in  mingling  wTith  society,  find  ladies 
more  refined,  intelligent,  handsome,  and  perhaps 
better  endowed  with  worldly  goods,  and  reject  their 
first  love,  and  thus  occasion  scandal.  These  early 
engagements  also  influence  some  men  to  leave  the 
Seminary,  and  ask  for  license  before  they  have  fin- 
ished the  prescribed  course  of  studies.  Some  of 
these  men  who  were  very  poor  were  engaged  to 
ladies  of  some  means,  who  were  the  chief  agents  of 
securing  their  support.  Perhaps  it  was  the  only  re- 
turn they  could  give,  though  it  had  necessarily  to  be 
confined  to  one  of  the  sisters.  I  do  not  know  what 
the  others  thought  of  it. 

There  was  an  ardent  home  mission  spirit  among 
some  of  them,  and  one  of  them,  who  had  been  up  in 
eastern  Pennsylvania,  came  back  burning  with  zeal, 
and  proposed  sending  missionaries  among  the  Ger- 
mans of  that  region  to  rescue  them  from  their  heath- 
enism !  I  modestly  asked  whether  the  men  whom  he 
thought  should  go  spoke  German?  I  set  forth  so 
many  other  practical  difficulties  in  the  way  that  the 
plan  was  given  up,  although  I  did  not  think  it  was 
ever  seriously  entertained.  I  admitted  that  the  state 
of  practical  piety  in  that  region  might  be  improved. 

I  conducted  a  Bible  class  and  a  Sunday-school  in 
the  country,  and  preached  several  times  in  a  school- 
house. 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  8l 

I  remember  that  my  rather  animated  style  of  un- 
read preaching  was  wonderfully  pleasing  to  the  Jer- 
sey country  people  at  that  school-house.  It  was  not 
more  than  a  mile  or  two  from  the  Seminary,  yet  the 
people  were  not  more  enlightened  than  the  same 
class  in  Pennsylvania,  who  did  not  hear  a  Seminary 
bell  every  clear  day  in  the  year.  They  did  not  at- 
tend the  Princeton  church,  and  were  well  satisfied 
with  the  plainest  kind  of  talk,  especially  if  it  was  not 
read  and  was  animated. 

I   remember   that   several   of   the   students   once 

staid  all  night  at  the  house. of  the  Rev.  Mr. 

the  Presbyterian  preacher,  at  a  village  a  few  miles 
east  of  Princeton.  I  think  it  was  called  Frogtown. 
There  was  a  large,  old-fashioned  eight-day  clock  in 
the  house,  the  strike  of  which  was  loud  and  sonorous, 
but  which  did  not  disturb  the  family,  for  they  were 
used  to  it,  but  the  terrific  clang  awoke  me  every  time 
the  clock  struck  till  after  midnight.  I  then  silently 
arose,  crept  to  the  noisy  machine  and  stopped  the 
pendulum.  This  disarranged  the  routine  of  the 
whole  house.  The  girls  slept  longer  than  usual, 
the  breakfast  was  later,  and  everything  else  went 
wrong.  They  wondered  what  had  happened  to  the 
clock,  and  they  never  found  out. 

Besides  the  lectures  in  the  Seminary  various  other 
exercises  were  assigned  to  us.  I  remember  that  T 
was  appointed  to  prepare  a  skeleton  on  "  O  death, 
where  is  thy  sting?"  Also  an  essay  on  Memoriter 
Preaching ;  The  best  Manner  of  Managing  the  Voice ; 
6 


B>2  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

A  Critique  on  Archbishop  Seeker  as  a  Sermonizer. 
I  also  attended  some  lectures  in  the  Middle  class, 
and  I  heard  Professor  Patton,  of  the  college,  once  a 
week  on  Greek  tragedy. 

I  do  not  remember  that  one  of  the  students  read 
German,  much  less  spoke  it,  except  a  German  Re- 
formed student  from  Eastern  Pennsylvania,  who 
spoke  a  barbarous  dialect.  It  had  not  yet  become 
the  style  to  learn  German. 

I  was  one  of  four  elected  to  make  Bible  Society 
speeches  in  the  college  chapel,  where  a  few  years 
before  I  had  attended  worship  so  often ;  but,  alas !  in 
a  different  state  of  mind.  I  made  a  decided  hit,  and 
the  whole  of  it  consisted  in  a  story  I  told  of  an  old 
Armenian  bishop.  I  did  not  speak  ten  minutes,  but 
I  got  much  credit  for  what  was  really  a  poor  perform- 
ance. I  dramatized  the  story,  and  gave  it  in  my  best 
style.  It  takes  very  little  to  move  some  audiences, 
especially  when  you  go  out  of  the  old,  horse-mill 
round,  and  give  them  something  fresh  in  matter,  but 
especially  in  manner. 

About  this  time,  an  English  elocutionist,  named 
Barber,  came  along,  who  had  classes  in  the  Seminary. 
A  report  was  started  in  town,  by  some  women,  that 
there  was  something  wrong  about  his  character.  An 
indignation  meeting  was  held  in  the  college  chapel, 
and  Plumer  and  I  were  the  only  men  who  stood  up 
in  his  defence.  Plumer,  in  his  speech,  most  effect- 
ively recited  Shakespeare's  "Who  steals  my  purse 
steals  trash, ' '  and  so  on.      This  was  the  same  Wil- 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  83 

liam  S.  Plumer  who  became  a  distinguished  minis- 
ter, author  and  professor,  and  who  died  in  Baltimore, 
Md.,  in  1879  or  1880.     When  Plumer  was  pastor  in 
Baltimore,  18  or  20  years  before  his  death,  he  and  I 
were  very  intimate.     He  went  from  there  to  be  Pro- 
fessor in  the  Seminary  at  Allegheny  City,  Pa.,  where 
he  was  at  the  breaking  out  of  the  Rebellion.     He 
was  supposed  to  sympathize  with  the  rebels,  and  he 
was  compelled  to  leave  that  place.     He  was  after- 
wards Professor  at  Columbia,  S.  C,  until  that  school 
was  disbanded.     He  came  to  Baltimore  for  medical 
treatment,  and  died  in  one  of  our  hospitals.    He  was 
an  eminently  good  man,   and  the  writer  of  many 
good  books. 

I  had  frequent  conversations  with  some  students 
about  joining  our  ministry,  as  furnishing  opportuni- 
ties of  doing  good  which  they  thought  their  own 
church  did  not  afford,  but  nothing  ever  came  of  it; 
and  it  is  just  as  well,  for  I  very  seldom,  in  subse- 
quent life,  saw  much  good  coming  out  of  this  sort  of 
marriage  with  people  not  trained  in  our  ways. 

There  was  very  little  intercourse  between  the 
students  and  the  town's  people,  and  no  visiting  the 
ladies,  for  most  of  the  students  had  ladies  elsewhere 
to  whom  they  owed  special  attentions. 

During  the  spring  vacation  I  did  not  go  home,  but 
remained  and  studied,  excepting  a  short  tour  I  made 
as  far  up  the  North  River  as  West  Point.  On  the 
boat  I  met  a  young  man  with  whom  I  got  into  con- 
versation, and  found  out  that  he  was  a  student  of 


84  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

one  of  our  ministers  in  Pennsylvania.  He  was  very 
verdant  in  experience  and  knowledge.  He  knew 
nothing  whatever  concerning  the  Church  elsewhere, 
and  uttered  some  very  un-Lutheran  sentiments. 
Some  years  afterwards  I  met  this  man  in  the  Penn- 
sylvania Synod,  but  he  never  was  of  any  account. 
He  defended  the  Zwinglian  view  of  the  Lord's  Sup- 
per in  an  article  in  The  Review ;  he  neglected  the 
Synod,  and  his  name  was  finally  dropped.  On  this 
voyage  I  saw  another  man  of  bad  distinction.  He 
was  a  small,  thin,  slovenly  dressed  man,  who  spoke 
to  nobody,  and  seemed  anxious  to  avoid  everybody. 
He  was  brisk  in  his  movements  and  restless  in  all  his 
demeanor;  he  had  a  keen,  piercing  eye  that  really 
glistened ;  long,  flaxen  hair  hung  in  negligent  pro- 
fusion over  his  shoulders ;  his  face  seemed  wrinkled 
with  care,  and  general  inquietude  marked  the  whole 
man.  IT  WAS  AARON  BURR!  The  boat  passed 
within  a  mile  of  the  bank  of  the  Hudson,  where,  22 
years  before,  he  killed  General  Hamilton  in  a  duel, 
and  that  must  have  been  a  painful  reminiscence.* 

*  During  the  meeting  of  The  American  Association  of  Sci- 
ence, at  Boston,  in  August,  1880,  the  Hon.  R.  C.  Winthrop  in- 
vited four  of  us,  Rev.  Dr.  Rogers,  of  London,  Rev.  Dr.  Dal- 
rymple,  of  Baltimore,  Judge  Speck,  of  St.  Louis,  and  myself, 
to  his  magnificent  villa  in  Brookline.  Among  his  fine  collec- 
tion of  pictures  is  a  portrait  of  Alexander  Hamilton,  and  while 
we  were  admiring  it  the  conversation  turned  upon  Aaron  Burr. 
I  happened  to  mention  that  I  had  seen  Burr  in  1826,  on  a  steam- 
boat, on  the  North  River.  Mr.  Winthrop  remarked,  "  I  was  on 
that  boat  at  the  same  time  and  also  saw  Burr." 


CHAPTER  IV. 

UCENSED  TO   PREACH— GETTYSBURG  SEMINARY. 

I  had  spent  seven  months  at  Princeton  Seminary, 
and  the  class  graduated.  This  was  in  1826.  I  re- 
turned to  York,  and  in  October  I  went  to  Winches- 
ter, Va.,  where  the  Synod  of  Maryland  and  Virginia 
met,  to  be  licensed.  My  examination  was  not  se- 
vere ;  it  was  over  in  less  than  an  hour.  Mr.  Krauth 
and  Mr.  D.  F.  Schaeffer  principally  conducted  it, 
and  I  was  unanimously  accepted.  I  was  asked  to 
read  the  first  few  verses  of  Genesis  in  Hebrew,  which 
I  knew  by  heart,  and  the  analysis  of  every  word. 
I  was  asked  only  one  question  on  the  analysis  of  the 
first  word,  by  a  man  who  evidently  knew  nothing 
about  it.  Mr.  Krauth  was  the  only  man  present  who 
could  read  the  language.  Mr.  Schmucker  was  ab- 
sent. They  insisted  upon  my  preaching,  and  I  gave 
them  a  sermon  on  "Awake,  thou  that  sleepest, "  etc. 
I  was  the  only  licentiate  at  the  Synod  in  Winchester. 
In  those  days  they  were  more  rare  than  at  present. 

Immediately  after  my  licensure,  a  party  of  a  cer- 
tain congregation  disaffected  with  their  minister, 
who  was  one  of  the  best  men  living,  but  of  whom 
they  wanted  to  get  rid  because  of  his  faithful  preach- 

(85) 


86  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

ing,  absolutely  asked  me  whether  I  would  come 
among  them  and  establish  a  schismatic  organization ; 
but  I  was  not  the  man  to  be  emplo)Ted  in  such  a  dis- 
honorable, unchurchly  proceeding,  and  gave  them 
my  opinion  in  terms  which  did  them  good,  I  hope, 
although,  of  course,  they  were  offended  at  me.  I 
wrote  to  the  minister  and  informed  him  of  the  con- 
spiracy against  him. 

On  my  way  home  I  spent  several  days  with  Mr. 
Krauth  at  Martinsburg,  where  he  was  pastor,  when 
an  intimacy  grew  up  between  us,  which  continued 
to  his  lamented  death  at  Gettysburg,  in  1867. 

In  my  "  Fifty  Years, "  p.  10 1,  I  have  spoken  at 
large  of  this  honored,  godly  servant  of  Christ,  whom 
I  admired  and  loved  more  dearly  than  any  other 
man,  except  my  own  brothers.  He  was  a  widower 
at  the  time  of  my  visit  to  him,  and  a  severe  reader 
of  miscellaneous  books.  He  was  highly  respected 
by  the  people  of  every  church  for  his  perfect  single- 
ness of  heart,  irreproachable  conduct  and  amiable 
disposition.  * 

I  also  stopped  at  Hagerstown  and  preached  for 
Mr.  B.  Kurtz.  It  was  on  this  occasion  that  I  at- 
tended the  first  church  fair  I  ever  saw ;  it  was  held 
in  his  lecture  room.  They  have  become  almost 
universal  at  this  present  day,  substituted  sometimes 

*  In  the  Spring  of  1885,  his  sou,  John  Morris  Krauth,  of  Get- 
tysburg, sent  me  a  file  of  my  letters  to  his  father,  written  40 
years  ago,  from  which  I  have  drawn  some  interesting  reminis- 
cences.    I  sent  them  to  the  Historical  Society. 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  87 

by  excursions  or  dramatic  and  musical  entertain- 
ments, which  fifty  years  ago  would  have  been  con- 
sidered theatrical  and  of  course  highly  objection- 
able. I  returned  to  York  and  preached  for  Mr. 
Schmucker  in  the  large  church.  This  was  a  trial ; 
all  my  old  companions  and  other  persons  among 
whom  I  had  been  reared  were  there;  my  mother 
was  there,  but  not  a  word  did  she  say  before  or  after. 
I  knew,  however,  that  she  was  praying  for  me. 
The  only  person  besides  myself  who  was  at  all  ap- 
prehensive was  my  brother,  Charles  A.  Morris, 
whose  sensitively  nervous  nature  was  so  excited  by 
fear  of  my  utter  failure  that  it  was  with  difficulty 
that  he  could  force  himself  to  church,  and  when 
there  he  took  a  seat  near  the  door  so  that  he  might 
escape  in  a  hurry  in  the  event  of  my  coming  to  a 
dead  halt  and  being  compelled  to  leave  the  pulpit 
in  disgrace.  It  was  the  severest  trial  of  his  nervous 
system  that  he  ever  encountered.  I  do  not  think 
he  slept  a  wink  that  night,  and  I  am  sure  he  ate 
nothing  during  the  preceding  day. 

Charles  A.  Morris  was  as  pure  a  man  as  ever 
lived.  From  his  earliest  youth  he  was  devoted 
to  God,  and  through  his  long  life  of  82  years  he  ex- 
emplified all  the  virtues  of  Christianity.  For  over 
50  years  he  was  a  Sunday-school  teacher,  and  was 
never  absent  from  his  post  except  when  out  of  town, 
which  was  seldom,  or  when  he  was  sick.  He  was 
most  faithful  and  conscientious  in  the  preparation 
cf  his  lessons,  and  usually  wrote  them  out,  as  well 


88  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

as  his  numerous  addresses  to  his  school.  He  had 
all  the  Sunday-school  helps  in  the  way  of  books  and 
papers,  and  I  found  large  piles  of  manuscript  upon 
this  subject  among  his  effects.  From  his  early 
manhood  he  began  to  be  a  helper  of  the  poor,  and  I 
have  a  letter  from  one  of  the  most  eminent  of  our 
old  ministers,  who  had  become  poor,  acknowledging 
a  liberal  donation  from  him.  This  was  many  years 
ago,  when  my  brother  was  yet  a  }^oung  man  and  not 
himself  rich.  The  same  may  be  said  of  many  other 
deserving  persons  whom  he  aided  in  the  same  way. 
Multitudes  of  letters  were  found  thanking  him  for 
timely  donations.  I  once  made  a  rough  calculation, 
based  on  reliable  data,  and  came  to  the  conclusion 
that  in  the  course  of  his  life  he  gave  away  for  charity 
over  $80,000.  One  of  his  gifts  to  Pennsylvania 
College,  at  Gettysburg,  was  §20,000,  besides  other 
large  sums  to  the  Seminary.  Many  of  his  benefac- 
tions in  money  were  not  known  until  after  his 
death.* 

The  Seminary  at  Gettysburg  had  in  the  meantime 
gone  into  operation,  and  I  concluded  to  enter  as  a 
student  and  ' '  wait  for  a  call. ' ' 

I  did  not  offer  myself  to  any  vacant  church,  for  I 
did  not  know  any;  vacancies  were  rare  in  those 
days;  and  again  I  resolved  not  to  "  run  in  advance 
of  Providence. ' '  I  thought  that  if  the  Lord  wanted 
me  anywhere  He  would  open  a  door  for  me,  and  be- 

*  See  Drs.  Baum's  and  Weiser's  estimate  cf  liim  in  "Fifty 
Years,"  p.  268. 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  89 

sides  I  could  afford  to  wait.  There  is  a  difference 
of  opinion  upon  this  subject  among  good  men,  some 
maintaining  that  a  man  wanting  a  place,  whether  he 
is  at  the  time  a  pastor  or  not,  is  authorized  to  offer 
his  services  and  secure  the  influence  of  brethren  to 
get  him  the  place.  Others  say  wait  for  a  direct  call, 
without  previous  ' '  candidating, "  as  it  is  now  desig- 
nated. I  know  one  vacant  church  which  quite  re- 
cently has  had  43  applications,  every  one  of  which, 
except  one,  came  from  men  who  were  pastors,  and 
every  one  of  whom  thought  it  was  the  will  of  God 
that  he  should  go  there. 

I  entered  in  the  fall  of  1826  as  a  licentiate,  and  the 
only  one  in  the  institution,  and  thus  for  the  third 
time  I  became  the  pupil  of  S.  S.  Schmucker — first, 
in  the  Academy  at  York ;  second,  at  New  Market, 
Va.,  and  third,  in  the  Seminary.  The  present  edi- 
fice (old  building)  had  not  been  erected,  and  the 
recitations  were  heard  in  the  old  Academy.* 
The  men  whom  I  met  there  as  students  were : 
1.  H*enry  Haverstick,  who  had  been  a  fellow- 
student  at  Dickinson.  He  was  a  man  of  small  stat- 
ure, and  gifted  above  the  ordinary.  For  several 
years  he  was  a  useful  pastor,  and  then  conceived  the 
idea  of  going  to  Germany  to  study.  He  went  in 
1832  or  1833,  and  remained  nearly  two  years.  I 
advanced  him  $60  for  a  series  of  letters  he  engaged 
to  write  for  the  Observer,  of  which  I  was  editor. 

*  See  my  History  of  the  Seminary,  Evan.  Review,  Vol.  IV., 
No.  4,  1876. 


90  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

2.  Lewis  Eichelberger,  afterwards  pastor  at  Win- 
chester, Va. ,  then  professor  in  the  Theological  Sem- 
inary of  South  Carolina,  and  who  died  during  his  ser- 
vice in  that  school.  At  Winchester  he  edited  two 
volumes  of  The  Lutheran  Preacher  in  1853-5.  A  list 
of  his  other  writings  may  be  seen  in  my  Bibliotheca 
Lutherana.  They  consist  of  four  pamphlets  and  six 
or  eight  review  articles.  He  was  a  sensible,  earnest 
man,  rather  prolix  in  his  talk  and  preaching,  but 
companionable  and  devoted  to  his  work.  He  died 
in  January,  1884. 

3.  David  P.  Rosenmiller,  a  York  boy,  whom  I 
knew  in  our  juvenile  days.  He  served  as  pastor  in 
several  places  in  Pennsylvania.  He  was  one  of  the 
northern  pioneer  ministers  in  southwest  Virginia 
and  North  Carolina,  and  had  much  of  what  the  Ger- 
mans call  "world  experience. ' '  He  began  his  studies 
with  F.  Schaeffer,  of  Frederick.  He  was  a  labori- 
ous worker,  and  secured  the  esteem  of  all  his  breth- 
ren. A  son  of  his  is  in  the  Episcopal  ministry.  He 
died  in  September,  1880,  while  attending  the  East 
Pennsylvania  Synod  at  Allentown. 

4.  Jacob  Kaempfer  was  an  honest,  clear-headed, 
uncouth  countryman — I  believe  from  North  Caro- 
lina. I  remember  seeing  him  when  I  was  a  student 
at  New  Market.  He  became  one  of  those  honest, 
plodding,  unpretending,  useful  country  pastors  who 
aim  only  at  doing  good  and  serving  their  generation 
acceptably  to  God  and  man.  He  lived  in  York 
county,  Pa.,  where  for  several  years  he  was  sue- 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER. 


91 


cessfully   employed   in   the    service    of    the    Bible 
Society. 

5.  J.  Galloway  was  a  Presbyterian,  and  entered 
the  ministry  of  that  church.  He  studied  at  our 
Seminary  because,  I  believe,  his  parents  lived  at 
Gettysburg. 

6.  David  Jacobs  did  not  finish  the  full  course  of 
two  years  on  account  of  ill  health  and  because  of  his 
appointment  as  teacher  in  the  preparatory  depart- 
ment. He  died  several  years  after.  I  do  not  think 
he  was  ever  licensed.  He  was  a  brother  of  the  late 
Prof.  M.  Jacobs,  of  Pennsylvania  College,  and  uncle 
of  that  learned  and  worthy  gentleman,  Prof.  H.  E. 
Jacobs,  of  the  Philadelphia  Seminary. 

7.  Nicolas  R.  Sharretts  was  of  Carlisle.  Pie  began 
his  studies  with  Dr.  J.  G.  Schmucker  in  York  before 
the  Seminary  was  opened.  He  died  in  Indiana 
county,  Pa. 

8.  George  Yeager,  of  Pennsylvania.  Pie  settled 
in  Kentucky,  where  for  a  number  of  years  he  ca- 
reered conspicuously  in  a  very  limited  sphere. 

9.  Benjamin  Oehrle,  of  Pennsylvania,  who  died  a 
few  years  after  he  left  the  Seminary. 

10.  Daniel  Heilig,  of  Pennsylvania,  who  settled 
in  West  Virginia,  and  was  seldom  seen  afterwards. 

11.  Jonathan  Oswald,  of  Maryland,  became  assist- 
ant to  Dr.  J.  G.  Schmucker,  of  York,  and  served  the 
neighboring  churches  for  many  years.  He  devoted 
much  of  his  time  to  the  study  of  prophecy,  and  pub- 
lished a  book  on  the  subject.     In  his  later  years  he 


92  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

undertook  the  translation  of  the  Hallische  Nach- 
richten,  a  portion  of  which  was  unfortunately  pub- 
lished by  the  Book  Committee  in  Philadelphia, 
through  the  influence  of  a  friend.  It  was  behind 
the  times  in  translation,  and  the  remnant  has  never 
been  published. 

12.  Samuel  D.  Finckel  became  a  ver}^  useful  min- 
ister and  filled  several  positions  with  credit  to  himself 
and  benefit  to  others.  He  was  a  capital  German  as 
well  as  English  preacher.  His  last  pastorate  was  in 
Washington,  where  he  received  an  appointment  in 
the  War  Department,  which  he  held  for  many  years 
before  his  death.  (See  "  Fifty  Years, "  p.  325.)  He 
has  a  son  in  our  ministr3T,  and  several  other  sons  are 
influential  laymen  in  the  church. 

13.  William  Artz  was  of  Hagerstown.  He  went 
to  North  Carolina,  and  remained  there  all  his  life. 
He  died  in  1875,  but  was  not  in  the  ministry  at  his 
death. 

These  are  the  men  whom  I  found  as  students  at 
Gettysburg.  This  was  the  first  class,  and  the  year 
was  1826.  We  lived  together  in  great  harmony,  and 
enjoyed  ourselves  wonderfully.  I  recited  Rambach's 
German  Moral,  but  attended  few  other  classes.  I 
wrote  and  read  in  my  room  at  Mrs.  Hutchinson's, 
South  Baltimore  Street.  I  preached  once  in  the 
Presbyterian  church,  which  was  at  that  time  located 
on  the  street  leading  to  the  college.  There  was  very 
little  English  preaching  in  our  own  church.  Mr. 
Herbst  was  pastor,  who  never  preached  English,  and 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER. 


93 


Prof.  Schirmcker  seldom  occupied  the  pulpit.  Dr. 
McConaughy  was  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  church, 
where  we  sometimes  went,  and  occasionally  we 
strayed  into-  a  small  Methodist  church  ' '  round  the 
corner. ' ' 

Charles  McLean  was  the  talented  and  eccentric 
pastor  of  the  old  Scotch  Seceder  church,  but  who  at 
that  time  was  exscinded,  but  still  retained  the  church. 
We  sometimes  went  to  hear  him.  There  was  no 
effort  made  to  instil  into  our  mind  any  special  fond- 
ness for  the  Lutheran  Church. 

Some  of  our  boys  taught  Sunday-school  in  the 
country,  and  some  of  them  preached  in  the  Poor 
House. 

The  professor's  theological  course  was  constructed 
pretty  much  on  the  general  plan  pursued  in  that 
day.  I  do  not  think,  however,  that  he  taught  Dog- 
matik  this  first  year.  The  whole  course  at  that  day 
was  only  two  years,  which  amounted  altogether  to 
about  twenty  months'  instruction.  He  was  very 
anxious  to  swell  the  number  of  his  pupils,  and  ad- 
mitted men  for  six  or  seven  subsequent  years  who 
were  entirely  unprepared.  He  had  occasion  to  re- 
gret it  in  not  a  few  instances  afterwards.  He  was 
often  deeply  mortified  at  the  small  number,  and  the 
almost  constant  wrangles  with  the  teachers  of  the 
preparatory  school,  or  Gymnasium,  as  it  was  called, 
for  inducing  some  of  the  pupils  to  enter  the  Semi- 
nary before  they  were  fit. 

There  was  no  pastoral  supervision  exercised  over 
us,  no  paternal  or  encouraging  word  was  given. 


94  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

The  professor's  salary  was  originally  fixed  at  $500, 
a  sum  which  would  about  pay  house  rent  at  the 
present  time,  but  it  was  soon  increased,  though  it 
did  not  amount  to  $1000  for  several  years.  He  had 
the  inconvenient  reputation  of  being  a  man  in  what 
was  called  "good  circumstances,"  although  his  in- 
come was  not  large. 

The  Seminary  was  not  regarded  favorably  by  the 
older  ministers  of  the  Church  in  Eastern  Pennsyl- 
vania and  New  York.  They  were  displeased  that  so 
young  a  man  was  elected  professor;  they  doubted 
his  church  loyalty,  because  he  had  studied  in  part  at 
Princeton;  they  were  mortified  that  a  Seminary 
should  have  been  established  by  a  set  of  young  men 
comparatively,  without  their  assistance,  and  then 
again,  most  of  them  were  unfriendly  to  the  General 
Synod,  under  whose  auspices  this  institution  was  be- 
gun. The  result  was  that  very  few  of  the  earlier 
students  were  from  the  churches  served  by  the 
leaders  in  Eastern  Pennsylvania,  although  some 
very  good  pupils  came  from  that  quarter.* 

I  do  not .  think  our  professor  pursued  the  proper 
course  for  gaining  the  confidence  and  support  of  these 
men.  I  know  that  he  excited  prejudices  against 
them  among  his  students,  and  it  required  years  to 
eradicate  this  unfavorable  opinion  of  them  from  my 
own  mind.  He  had  good  reason  not  to  admire  them, 
for  they  violently  opposed  the  General  Synod,  which 

*  See  my  History  of  the  Seminary,  in  Evang.  Rev.,  Vol.  IV., 
No.  4,  1876. 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  95 

he  as  resolutely  and  ably  defended.  Indeed,  I  think 
it  could  be  easily  shown  that  the  salvation  of  the 
General  Synod  from  utter  annihilation  was  entirely 
owing  to  his  perseverance  and  energy.  There  was 
no  journal  at  that  time  in  which  he  could  defend  it, 
but  he  was  indefatigable  in  his  correspondence  and 
skilfully  rallied  the  scattered  and  disheartened  forces. 
His  influence,  however,  in  this  direction,  extended 
no  further  than  to  a  few  synods  in  the  central  section 
of  the  church,  and  to  one  or  two  ministers  in  North 
Carolina ;  but  he  succeeded  in  maintaining  the  insti- 
tution, and  lived  to  see  it  grow  into  a  large  and 
influential  body.  While  he  was  a  man  of  power  in 
some  directions,  he  had  not  the  faculty  of  securing 
friends  to  any  cause  by  personal  courtesies  or  acts  of 
polite  kindness.  He  knew  how  to  retain  adherents, 
especially  among  some  of  the  younger  clergy,  but  he 
failed  in  overcoming  the  opposition  and  prejudices 
of  older  men.  Even  some  of  the  younger  men  whom 
he  controlled,  did  not,  in  every  instance,  sanction  his 
action. 

At  this  period,  Professor  Schmucker,  as  he  was 
then  called,  had  not  yet  outlived  the  theological 
influence  of  his  father,  who  had  trained  him  in  a 
sound  Lutheranism.  In  subsequent  years  he  indi- 
rectly taught  his  pupils  to  esteem  the  symbols  of  the 
Church  very  lightly,  the  result  of  which  was  that 
some  of  them  regarded  them  with  a  feeling  border- 
ing on  contempt,  and  not  because  they  had  studied 
them,   but  because  they  had  not!     The  effect  was 


g6  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

what  might  be  expected  on  uninformed  minds. 
Some  of  his  pupils  became  extreme  anti-creed  men, 
whilst  strange  to  say,  the  effect  upon  some  other 
young  men  was  directly  the  reverse.  They  began  to 
study  the  books  which  the  professor  sought  so  sedu- 
lously to  depreciate,  and  the  result  was  that  they 
became  sturdy  Lutherans,  and  among  these  were  a 
few  of  his  nearest  relatives.* 

*  For  a  fair  and  candid  exhibition  of  the  state  of  the  church 
in  that  da}-,  see  Prof.  H.  I.  Schmidt's  "On  the  Lord's  Supper," 
New  York,  1852. 


CHAPTER  V. 

CAU,  TO  BALTIMORE  AND  PASTORAI,  UFE  ;   1827  TO  i860. 

I  had  not  been  at  Gettysburg  over  a  month  or  so, 
when  I  was  invited  by  the  First  English  Lutheran 
Church,  in  Baltimore,  to  preach  for  them  several 
times.  I  do  not  know  who  mentioned  my  name  to 
them,  but  neither  I  nor  any  of  my  relatives  had  any- 
thing to  do  with  it.  I  accepted  the  invitation,  and 
came  to  this  city  in  the  fall  of  1826,  and  preached 
three  or  four  times.  I  returned  to  Gettysburg,  and 
soon  after  a  call  to  the  pastorship  followed.  The 
salary  was  $500  a  year.  After  consultation  with  my 
brothers  and  others,  and  proper  religious  considera- 
tion, I  agreed  to  go,  and  on  February  4,  1827,  I 
preached  my  first  discourse  as  pastor,  on  Acts  x.  29: 
11 1  ask  for  what  intent  ye  have  sent  for  me?"  This 
congregation  had  recently  erected  a  small  church  in 
Lexington  street,  but  had  no  previous  pastor  in  that 
house  of  worship. 

I  was  totally  inexperienced,  and  the  idea  of  going 
to  a  city  where,  in  my  verdancy,  I  thought  all  the 
people  were  intelligent  and  refined,  and  where  they 
were  accustomed  to  the  best  style  of  preachers,  cre- 
ated dreadful  apprehension  in  my  mind.  I  do  not 
7  (97) 


98  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

think  the  young  ministers  of  the  present  day  are 
troubled  with  such  fears.  They  seem  ready  to  go 
anywhere,  and  to  preach  without  any  timidity  to  any 
congregation.  I  believe  this  is  owing,  in  part,  to 
their  larger  intercourse  with  society  than  we  of  the 
olden  time  enjoyed,  which  is  an  important  part  of 
education.  A  wider  range  of  acquaintance  with 
men,  the  facilities  of  travel,  and  the  progressive 
spirit  of  the  age,  have  given  young  men  more  self- 
reliance.  I  had  the  foolish  idea  that  anybody  in  a 
city  was  a  good  judge  of  sermons,  and  I  was  alarmed 
when  I  saw  smart-looking  young  people  come  to  my 
church,  and  this  most  unfounded  conception  led  me 
into  some  inexcusable  blunders.  I  soon  found  that 
city  people  are  not  more  intelligent  than  country 
people,  nor  better  judges  of  what  is  good  preaching. 
I  also  knew  that  I  would  have  no  ministerial  brother 
to  sympathize  with  me  heartily,  advise  or  correct  me. 
There  was  no  other  English  Lutheran  church,  and 
the  one  which  called  me  was  still  in  an  embryonic 
condition.  I  knew  that  I  would  have  many  difficul- 
ties to  encounter  and  hard  work  to  perform.  I  was 
apprehensive  even  of  opposition  on  the  part  of  some 
Germans,  and  of  indifference  from  other  quarters. 
It  was  an  enterprise  environed  by  difficulties  all 
around,  and  I,  a  verdant  country  ministerial  boy, 
was  expected  to  overcome  them. 

I  had  one  advantage  here,  and  that  was  that  my 
relations  were  very  respectable  and  influential  peo- 
ple.    Dr.  Keerl,  a  physician  and  druggist  of  high 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  99 

character  and  considerable  wealth,  and  his  four  sons, 
all  of  whom  were  much  older  than  I  was,  and  were 
my  first  cousins.  My  almost  daily  association  with 
them  brought  me  into  contact  with  many  other  per- 
sons of  similar  standing,  which  proved  advantageous 
to  me  as  a  young  minister.  The  only  other  Lutheran 
ministers  in  the  city  were  the  Rev.  Dr.  J.  Daniel 
Kurtz  and  John  Uhlhorn,  joint  pastors  of  the  Ger- 
man church  in  Gay  street.  I  have  given  sketches 
of  both  of  these  men  in  my  ' '  Fifty  Years, ' '  pp.  2 1 
and  95.  These  men  received  me  with  polite  cold- 
ness, but  did  nothing  to  encourage  my  project,  for 
the  fact  was  that  most  of  the  persons  engaged  in  our 
enterprise  had  been  members  of  their  congregation. 
Dr.  Kurtz  was  aware  of  the  necessity  for  an  English 
church,  but  it  was  not  his  interest  to  show  any  de- 
cided approbation  of  ours.  He  was  well  aware  that 
many  young  German  Lutherans,  and  even  whole 
families  of  the  more  respectable  portion  of  his 
church  had  left,  and  joined  other  English  churches, 
and  he  was  too  honest  to  put  any  obstacles  in  our 
way.  Whilst  he  would  perhaps  not  directly  advise 
any  one  to  leave  his  church  and  join  ours,  yet  I  am 
sure  he  would  not  have  thrown  obstructions  in  the 
way  of  their  going.  Some  of  their  influential  mem- 
bers opposed  us  directly,  but  I  had  the  satisfaction, 
not  many  years  after,  of  receiving  some  of  these 
very  men  and  their  large  families  into  my  church, 
where  some  of  their  descendants  remain  to  this  day 
as  most  efficient  members. 


IOO  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

It  pained  me  to  hear  of  not  a  few  influential  fam- 
ilies, with  which  I  became  acquainted,  who  had  been 
reared  in  the  old  German  church,  but  who  now  be- 
longed to  other  denominations.  Some  of  these  en- 
couraged me,  but  they  were  too  comfortably  folded 
elsewhere  to  come  back  to  our  flock,  and  I  never 
asked  one  of  them  to  do  so.  Indeed,  I  sometimes 
avoided  families  where  I  was  invited  to  tea,  lest  I 
might  have  been  suspected  of  wanting  them  to  re- 
turn. Dr.  Kurtz  and  all  his  family  except  one 
member  subsequently  joined  my  church. 

Before  I  proceed  to  write  the  particulars  of  my 
long  pastorate  of  thirty-three  years,  I  will  give  here 
an  abridged  sketch  of  our  history,  which  was  printed 
as  the  preface  of  a  little  book  I  published  when  I 
resigned,  or  a  short  time  before.  In  their  proper 
places  I  may  also  give  a  sketch  of  the  other  English 
churches  in  town,  all  of  which  were  offshoots  of  the 
old  tree  which  I  planted. 

BRIEF    HISTORY    OF    THE    FIRST    ENGLISH    LUTHERAN 
CHURCH. 

The  necessity  for  an  English  Lutheran  Church  in 
this  city  was  deeply  felt  for  some  years  before  the 
first  was  actually  established.  It  was  a  subject  of 
much  anxious  thought  and  deliberation  among  many 
friends  of  the  cause,  and  on  the  27th  of  October, 
1823,  the  first  regular  meeting  for  business  was  held 
at  the  house  of  David  Bixler,  in  Howard  street. 
This  meeting  was  attended  by  David   Bixler,  John 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  IOI 

Reese,  Thomas  Henning,  Michael  Klinefelter, 
George  Stonebraker,  Joshua  Medtart,  Jacob  Deems 
and  Frederick  Seyler.  They  came  together  with  a 
determined  will  to  carry  out  their  purpose,  and  in 
their  laudable  enterprise  they  had  the  sympathies 
and  prayers  of  not  a  few  energetic  ladies.  A  sub- 
scription paper  was  drawn  up,  and  two  days  after 
another  meeting  for  further  consultation  was  held, 
and  a  resolution  passed  to  inform  the  Synod  of  the 
project  in  contemplation,  at  the  same  time  request- 
ing that  body  to  appoint  ministers  to  preach  in  suc- 
cession. A  committee  to  collect  funds  was  appointed, 
as  well  as  to  address  a  letter  to  the  vestry  of  the  Ger- 
man Lutheran  Church,  soliciting  aid  in  the  erection 
of  a  house  of  worship. 

It  does  not  appear  that  any  minister  visited  them 
till  August,  1824,  when  the  Rev.  Mr.  Krauth,  then 
of  Martinsburg,  Va. ,  complied  with  their  urgent  re- 
quest and  spent  several  days  among  them.  At  a 
meeting  held  August  30,  1824,  which  Mr.  Krauth 
attended,  measures  toward  a  permanent  organization 
were  taken,  and  a  committee  was  appointed  to  rent 
a  room  in  which  to  hold  religious  service.  Day  now 
began  to  dawn.  A  room  was  soon  secured,  and 
though  it  was  an  humble  place,  hope  revived  in  the 
hearts  of  these  devoted  children  of  the  Church.  This 
room,  which  was  occupied  by  a  school  during  the 
week,  was  situated  on  the  east  side  of  Howard  street, 
near  the  corner,  north  of  Pratt.  About  the  same 
time  measures  were  taken  to  secure  a  lot  on  which 


102  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

to  erect  a  permanent  house  of  worship.  During 
this  time,  for  a  period  of  seven  or  eight  months,  the 
little  flock  enjoyed  the  pastoral  services  of  the  Rev. 
Jacob  Medtart. 

In  the  meantime  the  lot  on  which  the  church 
stands  *  was  secured,  and  active  preparations  were 
made  to  build.  In  the  fall  of  1825  the  corner-stone 
was  laid,  on  which  occasion  the  sermon  was  deliv- 
ered by  the  Rev.  D.  F.  Schaeffer,  of  Fredericktown, 
who  was  assisted  in  the  other  solemnities  by  several 
other  ministers. 

After  Mr.  Medtart  resigned,  various  clergymen 
from  other  places  and  from  the  city  were  invited  to 
preach. 

On  the  28th  of  May,  1826,  the  new  house  of  wor- 
ship was  consecrated.  The  sermon  was  preached 
by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Endress,  of  Lancaster,  Pa.  It  was 
a  day  of  pious  rejoicing  and  thanksgiving,  and  the 
people  said  with  Solomon,  1  Kings  viii.  13,  "We 
have  built  thee  an  house  to  dwell  in — a  settled  place 
for  thee  to  abide  in  forever. ' ' 

On  the  1 6th  of  July,  1826,  the  Rev.  William 
Jenkins,  a  licentiate  of  the  Synod  of  North  Carolina, 
was  elected  pastor,  but  difficulties  occurred  which 
prevented  his  acceptance  of  the  call.  This  created 
new  perplexity,  and  for  a  while  the  people  were 

*  This  was  the  church  on  Lexington  street,  on  the  north  side, 
between  Howard  and  Park  streets,  which  was  burned  down  in 
1872,  during  Dr.  Barclay's  pastorate.  The  site  is  now  occupied 
by  large  business  houses. 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  103 

disheartened.  They  looked  around  and  lighted  on 
their  present  minister,  who  was  then  a  young  student 
at  Gettysburg,  without  experience  or  knowledge  of 
the  world.  With  fear  and  trembling,  and  only  on 
the  advice  and  persuasion  of  older  brethren,  he  ac- 
cepted the  invitation  to  preach,  and  on  Sunday, 
December  17,  1826,  he  preached  his  first  sermon  as 
a  visiting  minister.  On  Thursday  night  after  he 
preached  again,  and  at  a  meeting  held  after  service 
he  was  elected  pastor.  After  much  deliberation  he 
accepted  the  call,  and  on  Sunday,  February  4,  1827, 
he  preached  his  first  sermon  as  pastor  of  the  church 
from  the  words  Acts  x.  29:  "  I  ask  therefore  for 
what  intent  ye  have  sent  for  me. ' '  On  the  3d  of 
June  of  the  same  year  the  first  celebration  of  the 
Lord's  Supper  was  held,  and  as  it  may  be  a  matter 
of  interest  to  some,  the  names  of  the  communicants 
are  here  given: 

Andrew  Walter,  David  Bixler,  John  Reese,  An- 
thony Goverman,  Erasmus  Uhler,  Frederick  Seyler, 
John  Brown,  Joseph  Clark,  David  Martin,  William 
Ross,  John  Schriver,  Abel  D.  Chase,  T.  Sederborg, 
Jesse  Reifsnyder,  John  S.  Bridges,  Augustus  Hack, 
William  Hack,  Garrett  Altvater,  Magdalena  Bixler, 
Elizabeth  Wehrly,  Catharine  Uhler,  Ellen  Brown, 
Catharine  Martin,  Rochena  Utz,  Ann  Wampler, 
Margaret  Bauer,  Rachel  Waltemeyer,  Elizabeth 
Miller,  Elizabeth  Bruner,  Mrs.  Moal,  Mrs.  Deems, 
Miss  Elizabeth  Brien,  Mary  Deems,  Mary  Bixler, 
Ann  Simpson,  Isabella  Altvater. 


104  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

A  Sunday-school  was  organized  soon  after  the  set- 
tlement of  the  minister,  and  various  other  church 
societies  were  formed.  The  congregation  gradually 
increased,  and  we  were  greatly  encouraged. 

In  1830  the  first  organ  for  the  church  was  pur- 
chased, and  in  the  same  year  the  parsonage  was 
built. 

In  1832  it  was  found  necessary  to  enlarge  the 
church,  and  nearly  $1,000  were  subscribed  for  the 
erection  of  galleries,  but  at  a  subsequent  meeting, 
June  25th,  it  was  resolved  to  extend  the  building 
towards  the  street,  which  was  accomplished  at  con- 
siderable expense,  and  forty  pews  were  added  to  the 
capacity  of  the  building.  At  the  same  time  the 
present  lecture-room  was  excavated  and  furnished. 
Before  that  we  held  our  weekly  lectures  and  Sun- 
day-school in  the  church,  and  afterwards,  until  the 
present  room  was  finished,  the  Sunday-school  and 
other  extra  meetings  were  held  in  the  room  immedi- 
ately behind  the  church,  which  was  erected  for  that 
special  purpose. 

These  improvements  greatly  increased  the  debt  of 
the  church.  Money  was  borrowed  to  meet  present 
liabilities,  and  effectual  measures  were  adopted  to 
pay  the  amount. 

One  measure  pursued  was  the  establishment  of  a 
Sinking  Fund,  which  was  vigorously  conducted  by 
the  young  men,  which  produced  the  first  year 
$976.02;  the  second  year,  $969,  and  in  two  years 
and  a  half  they  raised  $2,580.     This,  of  course,  did 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  I05 

not  include  the  larger  subscriptions  of  the  members. 
In  addition  to  all,  $325  were  realized  from  a  concert 
of  sacred  music  given  in  the  church. 

About  this  time  also  the  Council,  with  the  advice 
of  a  majority  of  the  congregation,  raised  the  price 
of  the  pews,  excepting  in  the  case  of  widows,  who 
retained  their  pews  at  the  old  prices. 

The  efforts  of  the  ladies  in  raising  funds  for  the 
church  should  not  be  overlooked.  They  on  several 
occasions  relieved  the  treasury  by  timely  contribu- 
tions, and  besides  this  displayed  their  interest  in  the 
church  by  the  purchase  of  lamps  and  furnishing  the 
pulpit. 

Most  of  the  additional  pews  were  rented  as  soon  as 
the  house  was  finished,  and  have  continued  to  be 
occupied,  for  the  most  part,  to  the  present  day.  Gas 
was  introduced  into  the  church  in  1838. 

In  1839  an  unusual  religious  interest  was  felt  in 
many  churches  of  this  city,  and  during  that  year 
eighty  persons  joined  our  communion.  Some  have 
removed,  some  belong  to  other  Lutheran  churches 
in  this  city,  some  have  not  remained  faithful  to  their 
vows,  some  have  died,  and  some  continue  with  us  to 
this  day. 

Nothing  of  special  religious  interest  occurred  for 
several  years,  though  the  services  were  well  at- 
tended, the  number  of  communicants  gradually  in- 
creasing. 

A  considerable  degree  of  anxiety  was  beginning 
to  be  felt  from  another  quarter.      Nothwithstanding 


IOO  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

the  liberal  contributions  of  the  church  for  the  pre- 
ceding five  or  six  years,  the  actual  debt  was  increas- 
ing-. Besides  the  annual  ground  rent  of  $300,  the 
debt  now  amounted  to  nearly  $9,000.  In  1845  a 
congregational  meeting  was  called,  the  gratifying 
result  of  which  was  that  before  the  expiration  of  two 
years  the  larger  portion  of  this  debt  was  paid.  So 
great  was  the  relief  extended  that  the  Council  passed 
a  resolution  of  thanks  to  the  congregation  for  their 
liberality. 

In  1848  the  church  was  frescoed,  and  a  part  newly 
painted,  at  an  expense  of  over  $600.  New  chande- 
liers were  also  purchased. 

In  1850  a  debt  of  $2,053.75  was  paid  by  subscrip- 
tion, which  was  another  instance  of  the  liberality  of 
the  congregation. 

In  1 85 1  the  lecture-room  was  furnished  with  new 
settees,  and  the  aisles  were  carpeted. 

In  1854  the  ladies  of  the  congregation  undertook 
to  raise  funds  for  the  purpose  of  improving  the  front 
of  the  church,  and  a  committee  of  gentlemen  was 
appointed  to  co-operate  with  them,  which  work  was 
satisfactorily  accomplished  during  the  year  ;  the 
church  was  closed  for  several  months  whilst  these 
repairs  were  going  on,  but  divine  service  was  held 
nearly  all  the  time  in  the  lecture-room. 

In  February,  1857,  on  the  30th  anniversary  of  the 
pastor's  settlement,  a  subscription  of  $1,500  was 
made  towards  putting  a  new  roof  on  the  church, 
and  for  other  necessary  repairs. 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  107 

In  1858  the  new  organ  was  purchased  at  the  price 
of  $1,500,  which  amount  was  raised  by  the  laudable 
energy  of  several  of  our  young  men. 

Two  legacies  have  been  left  to  the  church,  one  of 
$500  by  the  late  William  Wehrly  in  1849,  which  has 
been  properly  appropriated,  and  another  of  $1,000 
by  the  late  Frederick  Seyler  in  1857,  which  is  not 
yet  due. 

Including  the  cost  of  the  original  building,  the 
alterations  and  repairs,  the  erection  of  the  parson- 
age, ground  rents,  subscriptions,  donations  to  benev- 
olent societies,  and  general  support  of  public  wor- 
ship, it  is  estimated  that  $75,000  have  been  expended 
by  this  congregation  since  its  organization  32  years 
ago. 

The  pastor  has  baptized  1,204  infants  and  adults, 
confirmed  458,  buried  217  infants  and  270  adults, 
administered  the  Lord's  Supper  publicly  128  times, 
married  508  couples,  delivered  over  4,000  sermons. 
During  32  years'  service  he  has  not  been  prevented 
from  preaching  by  sickness  in  a  single  instance. 

I  furnished  the  above  statement  for  a  paper  pub- 
lished in  town.  After  my  resignation  in  i860  the 
Rev.  John  McCron  was  elected  pastor,  and  this  re- 
sulted in  a  division.  More  than  100  members  left 
and  bought  a  Presbyterian  church  in  Eutaw  street, 
now  St.  Mark's,  and  elected  the  Rev.  Dr.  T.  Stork, 
of  Philadelphia,  pastor.  Rev.  McCron  was  suc- 
ceeded by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Joseph  Barclay.  During 
his   ministry  the  old   church,   which  had   been  en- 


Io8  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

larged  twice  while  I  was  pastor  and  renovated  sev- 
eral times,  was  burned  down.  The  lot  was  sold, 
and  the  present  edifice,  corner  of  Lanvale  and  Fre- 
mont streets,  was  erected. 

I  now  proceed  to  give  some  of  the  particulars  of 
my  pastoral  life.  There  was  no  such  thing  as  in- 
stallation in  those  days,  and  I  began  my  work  with- 
out it.  I  had  a  pleasant  home  at  Mr.  George  Stone- 
braker's,  42  Hanover  street,  and  I  wish  to  leave  on 
record  my  appreciation  of  his  kindness  to  me.  I 
lived  with  him  from  my  coming,  in  February,  to  my 
marriage,  in  November,  and  was  treated  as  one  of 
the  family.  When  I  asked  him  for  a  final  settlement 
he  refused  to  receive  any  compensation  whatever. 
He  was  a  kind,  amiable  man,  and  was  considered 
rich  for  those  days,  and  had  no  children.  Both  he 
and  Mrs.  Stonebraker  died  long  ago.  Mrs.  Stone- 
braker  married  twice  after  her  first  husband's  death. 
I  buried  her  three  husbands,  having  also  married  her 
to  two  of  them.  Mr.  Stonebraker  intended  leaving  a 
legacy  towards  building  another  English  Lutheran 
Church,  but  he  wrote  the  will  himself,  which  was  so 
awkwardly  and  illegally  worded  that  the  court  de- 
clared that  part  of  it  void,  and  the  Church  got 
nothing. 

I  began  with  only  28  families,  and  even  visiting 
them  frequently  did  not  consume  much  time.  I 
could  in  one  day  see  them  all.  I  had  but  few  official 
acts  to  perform,  excepting  preaching  twice  on  Sun- 
day and  lecturing  on  Wednesday  night,  and  of  course 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER. 


I09 


had  abundant  time  to  study,  which  I  used  faithfully, 
especially  in  the  preparation  of  sermons,  one  of 
which  I  wrote  out  fully  every  week,  and  thoroughly 
elaborated  the  other.  I  made  it  a  matter  of  prayer 
and  conscience  not  to  go  into  the  pulpit  without 
giving  the  people  the  very  best  I  could  furnish,  al- 
though much  of  it  was  deficient  enough.  I  added  to 
my  library  constantly,  and  even  fell  into  that  morbid 
habit  peculiar  to  some  young  men,  of  multiplying 
books  without  judgment  or  taste.  I  often  attended 
book  auctions,  very  common  in  those  days,  and 
bought  books  for  which  I  had  no  use,  and  piled  up 
my  shelves  with  what  I  afterwards  sold  as  mere 
lumber.  I  sold  off  three  or  four  very  considerable 
collections  of  books  in  my  time,  and  of  course  always 
at  a  loss.  But  when  I  went  to  Baltimore  I  had  not 
as  good  a  working  library  as  some  of  the  beneficiaries 
at  Gettysburg  now  have. 

I  did  an  act,  some  years  after,  which  I  have 
regretted  ever  since.  After  having  accumulated 
about  a  peck  of  written  sermons  and  skeletons  I 
committed  them  to  the  flames,  and  made  a  fresh 
start.  I  regret  this  now,  not  that  they  would  ever 
have  been  of  any  service  to  anybody,  but  that  I 
should  now  like  to  see  my  pulpit  productions  of 
long,  long  ago.  Perhaps  I  might  have  used  some 
of  them  over  again,  as  I  do  now  with  my  present 
stock  on  hand.  I  have  preached  some  of  them  as 
often  as  three  times  to  the  same  people,  and  so  little 
striking  was  there  in  any  of  them  that  it  was  seldom 


HO  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

that  the  repetition  was  discovered,  or  at  least  I  never 
heard  of  it  excepting  once  or  twice. 

I  soon  became  acquainted  with  the  very  few  min- 
isters then  living  here,  excepting  some  of  the  Meth- 
odists. Among  the  members  of  this  denomination, 
who  were  physicians  besides,  I  had  some  good 
friends.  Dr.  Roberts,  Dr.  Bond  and  some  others  I 
knew  well.  But  John  Breckenridge,  Helfenstein, 
Hamner,  especially  Duncan,  Musgrave  and  Backus, 
when  he  came,  were  particular  associates.  I  also 
became  well  acquainted  with  the  leading  working 
laymen  of  the  various  churches,  for  I  at  once  entered 
vigorously  into  the  working  societies,  where  I 
learned  to  know  these  men.  I  also  joined  several 
literary  associations,  and  this  brought  me  into  con- 
tact with  many  of  the  intelligent  young  men  of  the 
city.  I  was  President  of  the  Baltimore  Lyceum, 
and  also  of  the  Young  Men's  Bible  Society,  and 
afterwards  of  the  State  Bible  Society.  This  was 
not,  however,  at  the  beginning  of  my  career. 

I  will  here  mention  another  of  the  institutions  to 
which  I  belonged  during  my  pastoral  life.  It  was 
a  Conversational  Club,  which  met  in  the  homes 
of  the  members.  It  was  composed  of  such  men 
as  Hon.  Jno.  Barney,  John  P.  Kennedy,  J.  H.  B. 
Latrobe,  Rev.  Dr.  Burnap,  Dr.  Wynne,  Brantz 
Mayer,  and  other  literary  characters.  A  subject 
was  started  and  it  was  talked  out,  or  a  member 
would  relate  an  incident  or  tell  a  story,  on  which 
the  rest  of  us  would  make  remarks,  and  thus  the 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  Ill 

evening*  would  pass  enlivened  by  wit,  brilliant  talk, 
and  social  intercourse.  There  was  nothing  but  cold 
water  furnished  for  refreshment,  not  even  cigars. 
We  usually  met  in  splendidly  decorated  parlors, 
where  smoking  would  have  been  out  of  order.  In 
Harper's  Mont Jdy,  Vol.  25,  p.  336,  1862,  there  is  a 
notice  of  this  club.  * 

I  must  now  go  back  some  years  to  my  earlier  pas- 
toral life,  for  I  am  recording  these  events  as  they 
occur  to  my  mind,  without  observing  any  order  or 
chronological  sequence,  and  hence  I  may  be  found 
repeating  or  enlarging  upon  some  facts  already 
mentioned.  When  I  came  to  Baltimore  in  1827 
English  Lutheranism  was,  not  known,  and  the  peo- 
ple who  talked  about  it  judged  us  by  the  standard 
of  piety  held  by  the  German  Church.  I  will  not 
say  there  were  no  good  people  in  that  church,  but 
they  were  not  demonstrative  in  their  piety.     They 

*  "  Dr.  Wynne,  in  a  sketch  of  John  P.  Kennedy  in  the  above 
mentioned  Harper's  Monthly,  says :  '  I  saw  most  of  Kennedy 
while  his  townsman  in  Baltimore  at  a  literary  club,  of  which 
we  were  both  members,  composed  of  four  doctors  of  medicine, 
four  doctors  of  divinity,  and  four  gentlemen  distinguished  for 
literary  attainments.  This  club,  styled  the  Monday  Club,  met 
alternately  at  the  house  of  the  various  members  in  the  winter, 
and  during  its  existence  was  the  most  agreeable  re-union  in 
Baltimore,  and  was  almost  certain  to  command  the  presence  of 
any  distinguished  stranger  who  chanced  to  be  in  town.  Ken- 
nedy was  the  most  constant  in  his  attendance,  and,  with  the 
exception  of  Dr.  Morris,  a  Lutheran  divine,  was  perhaps  the 
best  talker.'  " 


112  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

did  not  mingle  with  other  Christians;  they  mani- 
fested no  interest  in  the  religious  activities  of  the 
day ;  they  were  not  recognized  as  a  working,  Chris- 
tian people.  When  we  came,  bearing  the  same 
name,  we  were  estimated  by  the  same  rule,  and  of 
course  we  had  little  sympathy  until  we  became  bet- 
ter known.  In  some  places  we  are  suffering  from 
the  same  cause  to-day. 

I  had  but  few  active,  working  men,  and  they  were 
not  young  men,  and  hence  not  known  among  the 
workers  in  religious  societies.  I  suffered  consider- 
ably from  this  source. 

Some  of  my  people  were  tainted  with  Methodist 
emotionalism,  which  was  cherished  to  a  much  greater 
extent  at  that  day  than  this,  even  among  that  people 
themselves.  Not  that  any  of  my  members  felt  dis- 
posed to  join  that  church,  but  they  thought  that  style 
of  religion  was  preferable  to  our  staid  orthodox  faith 
and  unostentatious  practice.  They  seemed  to  think 
that  piety  consisted  more  in  feeling  than  in  godly 
living.  This  gave  me  some  trouble  at  first,  but  I 
finally  brought  them  round  to  the  sober  gospel.  An 
eminent  Episcopal  minister,  who  subsequently  be- 
came bishop,  told  me  the  same  was  true  of  his  con- 
gregation when  he  took  charge  some  years  before  me. 

I  held  private  prayer-meetings  with  them,  and 
the  efforts  of  some  of  them  to  pray  were  awkward 
enough;  but  the  most  of  them  improvised,  and 
almost  from  the  beginning  I  had  a  goodly  number 
who  took  part  in  that  exercise.     It  was  something 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  113 

altogether  new  that  a  Lutheran  should  ' '  pray  in 
public,"  and  hence  we  were  called  "Methodists" 
by  some-  who  did  not  wish  us  well.  This  was  kept 
up  for  many  years  in  private  houses,  and  on  Sunday 
morning  in  the  lecture-room  in  the  church.  In  the 
course  of  time  a  female  prayer-meeting,  conducted 
by  my  godly  wife,  was  also  established,  which  was 
maintained  for  many  years.  My  first  catechetical 
class  was  begun  about  a  month  after  my  settlement, 
and  48  young  people  were  present.  This  was  en- 
couraging. I  confirmed  ten  of  them  after  three 
months'  instruction. 

My  first  communion  was  held  on  Whitsunday, 
June  — ,  1827,  and  there  were  40  communicants. 
Most  of  them  had  been  confirmed  in  the  German 
Church,  in  town  or  elsewhere.  Some  were  people 
who  had  moved  to  town  from  other  places. 

On  November  21,  1827,  I  was  married  to  Miss 
Eliza  Hay,  of  York,  Pa.,  and  immediately  went  to 
housekeeping  on  a  salary  of  $500  a  year.  I  do  not 
mean  to  say  that  I  lived  on  that  amount,  for  I  paid 
a  rent  of  several  hundred  dollars  out  of  it.  My  sal- 
ary never  exceeded  $1,500  a  year  and  the  parsonage 
that  was  afterwards  built.  My  perquisites  never 
amounted  to  over  $300,  so  I  can  safely  say  that  in 
thirty-three  years  of  my  ministry  in  that  church  I 
paid  out  of  my  private  income  more  than  $15,000  for 
the  privilege  of  preaching  the  gospel  to  that  people. 
I  was  compelled  to  be  liberal  in  my  donations,  as 
well  as  to  "  entertain  strangers  "  to  an  unlimited 
8 


114  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

number.  When  I  resigned,  in  i860,  they  made  me 
a  present  of  $1,000,  but  I  had  previously  spent  of 
my  own  money  for  building  an  addition  to  the  par- 
sonage, by  which  I  secured  a  small  room  for  a  study, 
which  I  had  not  before. 

I  thus  proceeded  amid  hard  work  and  many  diffi- 
culties to  build  up  my  church.  I  spent  much  time 
upon  my  sermons,  and  kept  up  a  constant  system  of 
reading.  I  went  to  see  my  people  often,  and  when- 
ever I  observed  that  strangers  attended  my  church 
twice  in  succession  I  would  enquire  who  they  were, 
and  if  I  was  told  that  they  belonged  to  no  church  I 
went  to  see  them,  but  I  did  not  intrude  myself  upon 
them.  I  timidly  told  them  who  I  was,  and  as  I  had 
seen  them  twice  in  our  church,  and  hearing  that 
they  had  no  other  church  connection,  I  ventured 
upon  a  visit  to  them.  I  was  always  politely  received, 
and  in  not  a  few  instances  the  result  was  happy. 

I  made  it  a  matter  of  conscience  never  to  interfere 
with  another  man's  work.  It  is  mean  and  unprin- 
cipled to  try  to  wheedle  or  steal  away  another  min- 
ister's members.  There  are  some  who  are  wicked 
enough  to  do  it.  A  very  pretentious  chap  once  set- 
tled in  Old  Town,  when  I  was  temporary  pastor  of 
the  Third  church,  who  boasted  that  in  a  year  the 
half  of  my  congregation  would  join  his,  and  he  even 
had  the  consummate  effrontery  to  ask  one  of  my 
elders  to  leave  us  and  go  with  him.  In  two  years 
this  clerical  popinjay  was  completely  used  up,  and 
was  compelled  to  leave  his  fine  new  place  of  worship 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  1 15 

and  go,  lie  knew  not  where.  He  joined  some  other 
denomination  and  passed  into  oblivion.  Some  few, 
who  call  themselves  Lutheran,  are  duped  to  leave 
the  church  of  their  fathers,  though  they  may  have 
been  well  cared  for;  but  I  have  found  that  usually 
pride  or  selfishness  is  at  the  bottom  of  it,  and  in 
most  cases  they  soon  wish  themselves  home  again. 
I  remember  losing  two  men  because  I  would  not 
sanction  their  unedifying  attempts  at  exhortation, 
and  because  they  could  not  succeed  in  being  elected 
to  church  offices.  They  went  where  one  of  them 
soon  became  a  lay  preacher  and  the  other  a  class 
leader,  but  neither  ever  amounted  to  anything. 

A  year  after  m}7  settlement  I  had  so  secured  the 
confidence  of  some  of  the  religious  societies,  and 
among  them  the  Bible  Society,  that  I  was  sent  to 
Frederick  and  Hagerstown  to  enlist  the  co-operation 
of  the  societies  in  those  places  in  our  design  of 
furnishing  every  family  in  the  State  with  the  copy 
of  the  Scriptures.  A  committee  began  the  work  of 
exploration  in  Frederick  during  my  visit,  and  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Schaeffer,  of  our  Church,  on  hearing  that 
they  intended  passing  by  his  house,  well  knowing 
that  he  had  Bibles  in  various  languages,  insisted 
upon  their  coming  and  seeing  for  themselves.  This 
he  did  for  the  purpose  of  preventing  superficial  work 
on  the  part  of  the  committee,  and  also  to  give  them 
a  reason  for  going  to  the  house  of  the  Romish  priest. 
This  priest  attacked  me  and  the  whole  work.  I  went 
to  hear  his  denunciation  on  Sunday  afternoon,  but 


Il6  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

it  amounted  to  nothing  more  than  the  usual  jargon 
about  a  mistranslated  Protestant  Bible.  He  said  he 
would  favor  a  distribution  of  the  Douay  Bible,  which 
of  course  he  never  did.  I  took  notes  of  his  harangue, 
which  I  afterwards  gave  to  the  Rev.  Dr.  Johns, 
Episcopal  minister,  afterwards  bishop,  and  in  ten 
days  after  I  received  a  pamphlet  in  which  the  priest's 
arguments  were  all  refuted.     He  never  replied. 

Exclusively  English  churches  were  very  rare  when 
I  began  my  work.  In  our  prominent  cities  there 
were  none  but  Mr.  Bachman's  in  Charleston,  Mr. 
Mayer's  in  Philadelphia,  Mr.  Mayer's,  in  Albany, 
and  mine.  There  were  others  in  the  interior  of 
New  York,  one  or  two  in  Maryland,  Virginia,  and 
perhaps  in  North  Carolina ;  not  more  than  a  dozen, 
I  presume.  Let  it  be  remembered  that  at  this  time 
there  were  not  more  than  250  or  300  Lutheran  min- 
isters in  the  whole  country,  but  now  (1895)  there  are 
over  5,000. 

The  mode  of  worship  in  all  our  churches  in  which 
English  was  preached  exclusively  or  occasionally  was 
framed  pretty  much  after  the  plain  Presbyterian 
style.  There  was  no  such  thing  as  we  call  liturgy, 
although  in  a  few  of  the  German  churches  there  was 
a  slight  semblance  of  it.  For  a  long  time  there  was 
a  desire  expressed  to  reform  our  bald  and  spiritless 
mode  of  worship,  and  several  liturgies  were  prepared 
by  committees,  but  none  met  with  general  ac- 
ceptance. 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER. 


II7 


ORDINATION. 

I  was  ordained  at  a  synodical  meeting  in  Freder- 
ick in  1827,  just  one  year  after  being  licensed,  which 
was  quite  unusual,  and  at  the  next  meeting  of  Synod, 
at  Shepherdstown,  1828,  I  was  elected  a  Director  of 
the  Seminary  at  Gettysburg,  being  the  youngest  man 
in  it,  and  at  the  same  time  I  was  chosen  a  member 
of  the  ensuing  General  Synod.  At  its  meeting  in 
Hagerstown,  in  1829,  they  elected  me  Secretary.  I 
served  as  a  Director  of  the  Seminary  for  many  years 
in  succession,  as  well  as  Trustee  of  the  College  at 
Gettysburg.  In  1843  I  was  elected  President  of  the 
General  Synod,  which  met  in  my  church  in  Balti- 
more, and  just  forty  years  afterwards,  in  1883,  I  held 
the  same  office  at  the  meeting  in  Springfield,  Ohio. 

The  Observer,  when  it  got  into  the  hands  of  Dr. 
Kurtz,  vigorously  opposed  every  approximation  to 
responsive  liturgy,  chanting  and  clerical  gowns ;  but 
the  liturgical  interest  finally  prevailed,  and  resulted 
in  the  adoption  of  that  which  was  extensively,  but 
far  from  universally,  adopted  by  English  ministers 
of  the  General  Synod.  Many  others  would  have 
liked  to  introduce  it,  but  it  could  not  be  done  with- 
out creating  excitement  in  their  churches.  The 
wish  of  many,  it  seems,  is  to  be  as  much  like  every 
other  neighboring  sect  as  possible,  thus  losing  their 
individuality,  and  of  course  the  esteem  of  all  others  ; 
for  that  church  that  merges  its  life  in  the  general 
heterogeneous  mass  around,  and  abandons  its  an- 
cestral memories,  merely  to  be  like  others,  loses  its 
own,  as  well  as  the  respect  of  its  neighbors. 


115  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

I  know  it  is  not  an  easy  thing  to  introduce  the  full 
liturgy  in  an  old  established  church.  There  will  be 
the  cry  of  innovation,  but,  led  by  a  judicious  use  of 
parts  of  it,  and  a  gradual  introduction  of  the  whole, 
on  some  occasions,  will  insure  it  success.  The  most 
effectual  mode,  however,  is  its  use  in  the  Sunday- 
schools,  where  the  pupils  and  teachers  will  become 
accustomed  to  it,  and  reasonable  parents  will  not 
oppose  it ;  and  this,  I  am  glad  to  know,  is  practiced 
to  a  great  extent.  For  more  than  fifty  years  this 
subject  came  up  in  the  General  Synod;  the  commit- 
tee reported  a  form,  which  was  discussed  for  several 
hours,  and  then  was  postponed  until  the  next  meet- 
ing, much  to  the  relief  of  those  opposed  to  a  full  lit- 
urgy. What  is  strange  and  unbecoming,  is  that  men 
who  would  not  introduce  a  liturgical  form  of  worship 
into  their  churches,  even  if  one  were  adopted,  are 
most  active  in  the  adoption  of  one,  and  have  been 
conspicuous  members  of  committees.  Perhaps  some 
of  them  are  personally  favorable,  but  they  fear  their 
congregations  would  not  be,  and  hence  hold  back  at 
home,  whilst  at  Synod  they  speak  and  vote  in  favor 
of  it.  The  action  of  the  General  Synod  of  1885  was 
more  decisive ;  a  liturgy  proposed  by  a  committee 
of  the  General  Council,  the  General  Synod  South 
and  our  General  Synod,  was  adopted,  but  I  doubt 
whether  it  will  be  generally  introduced. 

In  my  verdancy,  when  I  first  came  to  Baltimore,  I 
expected  that  some  of  the  young  anglicised  Germans, 
who  joined  no  other  church,  and  some  who  had, 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  119 

would  cast  their  lot  with  us.  I  was  disappointed. 
Very  few  of  them  came,  except  the  children  of  those 
parents  who  came,  but  none,  or  very  few,  whose 
fathers  and  mothers  still  continued  with  the  old 
Church.  I  was  compelled  to  depend  upon  strangers, 
or  wait  until  our  cause  became  more  popular,  or 
prejudices  were  removed,  or  opposition  ceased.  My 
church  and  people  were  too  obscure  and  unfashion- 
able to  make  it  the  advantage  of  gay  young  people 
to  join  us,  but  still  I  received  quite  a  number  of 
young  people  who  had  not  settled  in  other  churches. 
Among  the  names  of  the  communicants  of  the  first 
four  or  five  years  there  are  not  over  a  dozen  of  per- 
sons whose  parents  or  near  relations  had  not  been 
brought  up  in  the  German  church  in  Baltimore  or 
in  the  country ;  only  four  or  five  whose  parents  still 
belonged  to  the  old  German  church,  but  were  so 
completely  English  as  not  to  understand  German; 
there  are  a  dozen  or  so  names  of  persons  who  are 
not  of  German  origin  at  all,  and  never  were  in  con- 
nection with  any  Lutheran  church  before,  but  who 
fell  in  with  us  because  they  liked  us.  Of  the  large 
number,  however,  of  Americanized  young  Germans 
who  had  strayed  away  from  the  old  Church,  and 
whose  parents  still  held  a  nominal  connection  with 
it,  there  were  very  few  who  cast  their  lot  with  us. 

We  have  great  reason  to  complain  that  so  many 
of  our  people  have  strayed  away  to  other  churches, 
but  it  is  comforting  to  know  that  a  large  number 
from  other  churches,  or  ' '  from  the  world,  "as  it  is 


120  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

called,  have  joined  us.  Every  English  name  in  our 
churches  is  a  gain.  There  are  no  original  Luther- 
ans with  English,  Scotch  or  Irish  names  in  this 
country.  Now  it  is  a  question  worth  considering, 
which  are  the  most  numerous,  those  of  our  own 
people  whom  we  lose,  or  those  of  English  name 
whom  we  gain?  I  know  it  is  said  that  some  Episco- 
pal churches  are  almost  entirely  made  up  of  stray 
Lutherans.  I  am  satisfied,  after  some  investigation 
in  Baltimore  at  least,  that  this  is  a  gross  exaggera- 
tion. There  are  some  families  of  ours  here  and 
there,  and  some  ambitious  young  people,  to  be 
found  in  other  churches;  but  I  am  convinced  that 
the  number  is  not  as  large  as  represented,  though 
still  larger  than  it  should  be,  and  further,  that  there 
are  not  as  many  defections  now  as  there  were  some 
years  ago.  Just  in  proportion  as  good  English 
preaching  is  introduced  among  us,  and  an  efficient 
ministry  exercises  its  functions,  and  our  churches 
become  enlightened  and  prosperous,  the  ' '  depart- 
ures ' '  diminish. 

Some  years  ago  I  made  a  careful  comparison  be- 
tween the  number  of  our  ministers  leaving  us  and 
the  number  of  ordained  ministers  of  other  churches 
joining  our  Synods.  The  latter  was  the  larger, 
though,  excepting  a  few  cases,  the  loss  was  not  to 
be  deplored,  nor  the  gain  to  be  commended.  (See 
"Fifty  Years  in  the  Lutheran  Ministry,"  p.  382.) 

Those  young  ministers  who  take  charge  of  English 
churches  in  cities,  or  establish  new  ones  and  expect 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  121 

to  build  them  up  for  the  most  part  by  accessions 
from  the  German  churches,  for  the  most  part  will 
be  disappointed,  except  in  neighborhoods  where 
there  is  no  other  English  church,  and  where  the 
German  young  people  are  numerous.  The  German 
pastors  generally  oppose  the  founding  of  English 
churches,  and  by  their  influence  many  of  their  young 
people  are  kept  away;  but  still  there  are  cases  in 
which  energetic  efforts  succeed  in  building  up 
churches  composed  for  the  most  part  of  young  Ger- 
man members,  who,  when  well  and  properly  trained, 
make  good  members.  Our  English  Lutheran 
churches  receive  fewer  from  the  ' '  Missourians  ' ' 
than  from  other  German  churches,  although  their 
young  members  generally  speak  better  English  than 
German.  But  the  most  strenuous  efforts  are  made 
to  keep  them  away;  and  severe  church  discipline  is 
threatened,  if  not  exercised.  Unless  the  Missourians 
form  English  churches,  the  third  generation  of  their 
members  will  be  lost  to  them,  and  I  fear  to  the 
Church  entirely. 

It  was  only  after  Father  J.  Daniel  Kurtz  resigned 
his  place  in  the  old  church,  and  moved  up  town, 
that  he  and  his  family  (excepting  his  son)  came  to 
my  church,  and  they  all  continued  active  members 
of  the  English  church  until  their  death.  On  my 
resignation  they  went  with  St.  Mark's  people,  in  the 
communion  of  which  they  died.  The  old  gentleman 
died  before  I  left  Lexington  street.  Two  of  his 
grandchildren  had  joined  us  some  years  before. 


122  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

My  reading  during  my  ministry  was  somewhat 
miscellaneous,  and  I  always  had  one,  sometimes 
two,  books  on  hand,  to  be  read  at  different  times. 
I  always  thought  that  variety  was  good ;  one  solid 
and  another  lighter  book.  I  thus  mingled  theology, 
biography,  history,  biology  and  periodical  literature. 
I  was  a  diligent,  but  not  a  hard  reader ;  some  people 
thought  so,  but  I  knew  better,  and  yet  I  did  not  idle 
away  any  time.  I  took  long  walks  into  the  country 
for  exercise,  and  was  always  ready  for  my  Sunday 
work  by  Saturday  noon,  so  that  I  might  have  Satur- 
day afternoon  for  myself.  I  once  stated  this  fact  to 
a  Presbyterian  minister,  who  thought  it  capital,  and 
said  he  would  adopt  it  and  no  longer  sit  up  late  on 
Saturday  night  to  prepare  his  sermons,  and  per- 
haps sometimes  be  writing  the  amen  when  the 
church  bells  were  ringing  on  Sunday  morning. 

There  was  no  Sunday-school  when  I  came,  but  we 
immediately  established  one.  Upon  the  death  of 
our  first  superintendent,  John  A.  Bentz,  it  came  into 
the  hands  of  Dr.  Wm.  A.  Kemp,  who  for  over  30 
years  conducted  it,  and  the  continuation  of  it  at 
St.  Mark's,  most  efficiently  and  faithfully. 

There  were  several  seasons  of  special  religious 
interest  in  the  old  "  Revival  "  or  "  New  Measure  " 
times.  As  .  the  result  of  one  of  these  meetings  I 
once  confirmed  80  persons.  Some  of  them  were 
admitted  in  the  midst  of  the  excitement,  and  with 
little  religious  experience  or  instruction,  and  not  a 
few  fell  away.     Others  continue  to  this  day.     This 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  1 23 

"  revival  "  system,  as  it  was  called,  has  fallen  into 
desuetude,  although  it  was  very  generally  practiced 
many  years  ago.  None  practice  it  at  present  except 
the  Methodists,  and  many  of  their  ministers  disap- 
prove of  it.  I  would  be  far  from  saying  that  no 
good  whatever  resulted  from  it,  but  I  do  know  that 
when  carried  to  an  extravagant  extent,  as  was  done 
in  many  places,  it  distracted  congregations,  created 
dissension  among  members,  and  aroused  opposition 
to  the  minister.  The  system  would  not  be  tolerated 
now  in  many  places  where  it  was  once  very  popular. 
The  word  of  God  abideth  the  same  forever,  but  is  it 
too  bold  to  assume  that  God  may  sanction  the  demon- 
stration of  it  at  some  times  and  places  by  the  employ- 
ment of  peculiar  ways  and  measures  which  He  would 
not  approve  of  at  other  times  and  places?  I  do  not 
believe  that  it  is  the  unbelief  of  the  people  that  has 
stopped  the  ' '  revival  ' '  system,  but  that  God  now 
employs  a  less  demonstrative  plan  cf  carrying  on 
His  work. 

Some  of  the  most  efficient  members  who  were 
brought  in,  of  non-Lutheran  parentage  or  name, 
were  men  whose  children  having  died  I  had  been  in- 
vited to  bury,  through  the  instrumentality  of  some  of 
my  .own  members.  There  was  one  of  them,  lately 
deceased,  a  faithful,  godly  man,  who  was  perfectly 
churchless  and  careless.  He  lost  a  child ;  a  friend  of 
his,  and  a  member  of  my  congregation,  requested  me, 
for  his  sake,  to  officiate  at  the  funeral.  My  remarks 
so  impressed  the  parents,  who  were  then  young,  that 


124  LI^E    REMINISCENCES    OF 

they  both  began  coming-  to  church,  and  in  a  short 
time  both  applied  for  membership ;  they  were  con- 
firmed, and  the  father  and  the  daughter,  when  she 
grew  rip  (the  mother  is  deceased),  became  most 
active  workers  in  the  church.  I  mention  this  fact 
just  to  show  what  effect  a  few  words  dropped  at  a 
funeral  may  have,  and  that  a  minister  does  not 
always  spend  his  time  in  vain  by  serving  people  who 
have  no  claim  upon  him. 

I  have  read  of  one  eminent  preacher  who  main- 
tained that  preaching  funeral  sermons,  and  I  suppose 
he  included  discourses  in  the  house  of  mourning 
before  the  interment,  was  lost  time;  but  I  do  not 
think  so,  if  the  service  is  properly,  and  not  mechan- 
ically, done.  But  I  will  not  here  enter  upon  the 
discussion.  I  will  only  remark  that  from  the  per- 
functory manner  in  which  it  is  often  done  I  have  no 
doubt  it  is  lost  time  to  both  preachers  and  hearers. 

There  is  much  of  this  "  outside  "  work  done  by 
some  city  ministers.  People  who  are  not  church 
members,  and  not  even  in  the  habit  of  going  to 
church,  nor  of  contributing  to  its  support,  seem  to 
think  they  have  as  much  right  to  a  minister's  serv- 
ices as  anybody  else.  I  have  attended  more  funerals 
and  performed  other  clerical  services  for  others  than 
for  my  own  people,  and  without  compensation  or 
even  recognition;  and  thus  it  is  with  some  others. 
I  know  one  city  minister  of  our  own  Church  who  has 
an  immense  Sunday-school,  for  the  most  part  com- 
posed of  children  of  outsiders,  very  few  of  whom 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  1 25 

ever  go  to  church,  but  they  all  call  upon  him  for  any 
service  they  may  want  done ;  and  the  result  is  that 
he  has  an  enormous  amount  of  work  on  hand,  for 
which,  in  many  instances,  he  does  not  even  receive 
thanks.  He  is  a  diligent  worker,  and  does  not  seem 
to  groan  under  his  heavy  burden. 

Years  ago  I  gave  a  series  of  Sunday  night  lectures 
on  the  Evidences  of  Christianity,  which  I  thoroughly 
studied.  I  devoted  several  of  them  to  the  objections 
which  unbelievers  make,  and  stated  them  strongly, 
so  that  my  triumph  in  refuting  them  might  be  the 
more  impressive.  Against  this  my  cousin,  who 
came  to  my  church  every  Sunday  night,  advised  and 
argued  that  among  my  hearers  there  were  doubtless 
some  who  were  not  firmly  established  in  the  faith, 
and  who,  hearing  these  objections  for  the  first  time, 
would  cling  to  them,  and  would  not  be  convinced  by 
my  soundest  argument.  In  other  words,  that  Satan 
would  take  advantage  of  their  inexperience  and  per- 
suade them  that  I  had  put  a  powerful  weapon  into 
their  hand.  They  would  feel  the  force  of  the  objec- 
tion, but  would  not  appreciate  that  of  the  refutation. 

I  think  he  was  right,  for  I  do  not  believe  that  ser- 
mons on  this  subject,  before  an  uneducated  audience, 
are  of  any  benefit.  The  living,  practical  power  of 
the  gospel  is  the  best  argument  in  favor  of  its  divine 
origin,  and  if  that  is  forcibly  demonstrated  and 
practiced  there  will  be  no  need  of  external  reason- 
ing, which,  if  not  well  put,  will  do  more  harm  than 
good. 


126  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

During  my  earlier  ministry,  having  no  colleague 
of  our  own  Church  to  associate  with  on  familiar 
terms  (Father  J.  Daniel  Kurtz  *  was  already  too  old 
a  man  to  be  the  companion  of  a  "  boy  minister, ' ' 
and  Uhlhorn  not  being  precisely  to  my  taste,  though 
one  of  the  most  brilliant  men  I  ever  met),  I  became 
the  almost  daily  associate  of  the  Rev.  Jchn  M.  Dun- 
can, a  very  eloquent  divine  of  the  Reformed  Presby- 
terian church  in  Fayette  street,  where  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Leyburn  afterward  so  successfully  labored.  Though 
Duncan  was  much  older  than  I,  yet  we  took  to  each 
other  very  kindly.  He  was  avoided  by  the  few 
Presbyterian  clergy,  and  I  had  no  brother  Lutheran 
clerics,  and  so  we  suited  well  together.  I  did  not 
consider  him  exactly  orthodox  on  some  points,  but 
we  did  not  allow  our  differences  to  interfere  with 
our  social  relations.  I  had  not  then  recovered  from 
my  country  timidity  and  bashfulness,  and  as  he  was 
the  most  prominent  pastor  in  the  city,  I  seldom  ven- 
tured to  oppose  his  peculiar  views.  He  was  not  a 
scholar  in  the  modern  sense,  nor  a  well-read  theo- 
logian outside  of  his  own  school,  but  he  was  a  pow- 
erful preacher,  who,  for  many  years,  drew  large 
crowds  of  hearers,  and  outside  of  the~  Presbyterian 
church  he  was  a  very  popular  man.  Pie  was  the 
nephew  and  namesake  and  pupil  of  the  celebrated 
New  York  divine,  and  afterwards  President  of  Dick- 
inson College,  John  Mason,  whose  name  adorns  my 
diploma.     He  was  trained  in  the  strictest  Calvinistic 

*See  my  "  Fifty  Years,"  p.  21. 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  1 27 

school,  but  later  in  life  abandoned  it,  and  was  ex- 
cluded from  the  Synod  for  some  alleged  un- Presby- 
terian doctrine,  but  a  majority  of  his  people  still 
clung  to  him,  and  after  a  long  trial  in  the  courts  the 
retention  of  the  church  property  was  awarded  to  the 
Duncan  party.  It  was  at  this  trial  that  I  for  the 
first  time  heard  the  celebrated  lawyer  Mr.  Wirt,  who 
concluded  his  defense  of  Duncan's  party  by  quoting 
from  Macbeth  those  famous  lines : 

"Besides,  this  Duncan  hath  borne  his  faculties 
So  meek,"  etc. 

It  had  a  powerful  effect,  and  the  audience  in  the 
court-room  vociferously  applauded. 

I  was  not  as  intimate  with  John  Breckenridge,  my 
former  tutor  at  Princeton,  and  who  was  pastor  of  the 
Second  Presbyterian  church  when  I  came  here,  as  I 
was  with  his  brother,  Robert  J.,  who  succeeded  him 
some  years  after.  He  was  a  very  remarkable  man, 
and  one  of  the  ablest  that  ever  occupied  a  Baltimore 
pulpit.  He  conducted  a  monthly  magazine,  in 
which  he  severely  exposed  the  errors  of  popery.  A 
man  named  Maguire,  the  keeper  of  the  almshouse, 
conceived  himself  officially  assaulted,  and  was  per- 
suaded to  prosecute  Breckenridge  for  defamation. 
The  trial  excited  great  interest,  but  after  it  had  pro- 
ceeded to  a  considerable  extent,  and  after  Brecken- 
ridge 's  counsel  was  heard,  the  State  abandoned  the 
prosecution.  The  State's  attorney  was  Geo.  R. 
Richardson,  of  whom  I  have  previously  spoken  as 
my  fellow-student  at  Princeton  college.     Mr.  Pres- 


128  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

ton,  of  Kentucky,  and  brother-in-law  of  Brecken- 
ridge,  and  Mr.  Crittenden,  both  United  States  Sen- 
ators from  that  State,  were  present  one  day,  and  the 
latter  addressed  the  Court. 

I  heard  afterwards  that  a  note  of  sympathy  and 
encouragement  which  I  had  addressed  to  Brecken- 
ridge  during  the  trial  was  highly  valued  by  him. 

ANTI-POPERY. 

About  these  times  there  was  a  widespread  excite- 
ment on  the  subject  of  popery,  and  many  Protestant 
ministers  wrote  and  preached  against  it.  Through 
the  influence  of  a  Presbyterian  minister  of  this  city, 
though  not  a  pastor,  a  meeting  of  clergymen  was 
called  to  organize  a  regular  crusade  against  Roman- 
ism. The  design  was  to  preach  sermons  and  to  cir- 
culate writings  on  the  subject.  The  meeting  was 
pretty  well  attended,  and  a  plan  of  operation  was 
proposed.  I  had  not  much  confidence  in  it,  for  the 
reason  that  the  Romanists  would  not  come  to  hear 
our  discourses  and  our  own  people  did  not  require 
any  special  instruction  on  this  subject,  for  they  were 
in  no  danger  of  apostasy  to  Rome ;  but  particularly 
I  soon  discerned  what  I  should  have  known  before, 
that  none  of  the  men  who  attended  the  meeting, 
except  two  or  three,  had  ever  studied  the  subject,  and 
that  their  harangues  would  do  the  cause  more  harm 
than  good.  They  were  in  no  sense  familiar  with  the 
controversy,  and  had  never  read  any  book  attacking 
or  defending  Rome,  and  were  not  even  acquainted 
with  the  titles  of  books  treating  of  this  matter. 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  1 29 

Nothing-  was  done,  although  the  sermons  of  a  few 
of  us  were  strongly  spiced  with  anti-Romanism  for 
some  time.  For  myself  I  have  so  acquired  the  habit 
that  I  seldom  let  pass  an  opportunity  of  giving 
Romanism  a  hit,  but  it  is  done  mildly  and  kindly. 

About  this  time  I  published  a  sermon  on  "  The 
Necessity  of  the  Reformation, ' '  which  was  violently 
attacked  by  the  Romish  press  here,  and  which  created 
considerable  sensation. 

The  only  other  minister  not  of  our  Church  with 
whom  I  was  intimate  in  my  earlier  years  was  the 
Rev.  Albert  Helfenstein,  of  the  German  Reformed 
Church,  then  situated  in  Second  street,  and  which 
was  known  as  The  Town-Clock  Church.  He  was  a 
man  of  blameless  life,  but  not  successful  as  a 
preacher.  He  was  succeeded  by  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Heiner,  who  revived  the  expiring  church,  but  died 
before  he  was  fifty.  After  several  colonies  had 
gone  out  of  my  church,  and  called  pastors,  I  of 
course  had  associates  of  our  own  faith,  with  all  of 
whom,  ever  since  the  first  one  came,  I  have  lived  in 
perfect  harmony,  except  perhaps  with  one  who  was 
afterwards  expelled.  After  the  Rev.  B.  Kurtz  came 
to  Baltimore,  in  1833,  to  edit  the  Lutheran  Observer \ 
which  I  gave  into  his  hands,  and  which  he  success- 
fully edited  for  many  years,  although  his  Luth- 
eranism  did  not  suit  my  taste,  we  worked  together 
for  the  most  part  very  pleasantly.  He  was  a  hard 
man  to  preach  to — impatient,  often  inattentive,  and 
always  severe  in  his  judgment  on  my  sermons.  He 
9 


130  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

once  most  injudiciously  attempted  to  found  another 
English  church  without  ever  saying  a  word  to  me 
about  it,  and  I  only  heard  of  it  after  he  had  com- 
menced. I  do  not  think  that  his  own  judgment 
heartily  approved  of  it,  but  I  have  reason  to  think  he 
was  urged  on  by  a  disaffected  and  troublesome  mem- 
ber of  my  own  church.  He  opened  a  preaching 
place  in  an  upper  room  at  the  corner  of  Gay  and 
Baltimore  streets,  but  soon  abandoned  it  for  want  of 
encouragement.  He  was  the  last  man  who  should 
have  undertaken  such  an  enterprise :  he  was  not  in 
robust  health;  he  had  not  the  time  nor  the  dispo- 
sition to  carry  on  such  a  work ;  he  had  not  the  social 
nor  pecuniary  backing  such  an  undertaking  in  a  city 
requires;  he  had  not  the  sympathy,  much  less  the 
prayers  of  anybody,  except  those  of  one  man.  It 
was  an  inconsiderate  project,  and  soon  utterly  failed. 
He  never  alluded  to  it  afterwards.  The  failure  was 
humiliating,  and  no  doubt  he  was  ashamed  of  it  all 
his  da)'S  subsequently.  He  was  a  strong  man  in 
many  respects,  but  a  very  broad  school  Lutheran, 
besides  which  other  influences,  adverse  to  our  sys- 
tem, were  brought  to  bear  upon  him,  and  the  result 
was  that  after  the  death  of  his  son,  Theophilus,  not  a 
single  one  of  his  children  or  grandchildren  attended 
the  Lutheran  Church.  With  the  Observer  under  his 
control,  Dr.  Kurtz  was  for  many  years  an  acknowl- 
edged power  in  the  Church.  He  had  a  large  follow- 
ing among  the  ministers  and  laymen,  and  always 
advocated  a  high  standard  of  practical  piety.     The 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  131 

generation  over  which  he  exercised  so  much  influ- 
ence is  nearly  gone;  a  few  linger,  but  every  one,  I 
believe,  has  abandoned  the  church  polity  and  dogma 
he  so  strongly  defended.  Other  men  have  come 
upon  the  stage,  and  their  more  churchly  views  are 
now  maintained. 

For  many  years  my  most  intimate  clerical  associate 
in  town  was  the  Rev.  Dr.  Dalrymple,  of  the  Epis- 
copal church,  a  fair  classical  scholar  and  a  genial 
gentleman.  In  theology  he  was  a  very  low  church- 
man, and  on  the  sacraments  especially  a  Zwinglian. 
He  was  a  bachelor,  with  some  queer  ways,  and  kept 
a  fine  establishment ;  he  was  a  man  of  profuse  hos- 
pitality and  sociable  temperament.  He  had  the 
largest  private  library  in  the  city,  and  yet  he  was 
not  what  we  call  a  student.  He  was  not  even  a 
close  reader,  but  kept  his  books  as  ornaments,  and 
was  extremely  careful  in  their  preservation.  He, 
Philip  Tyson,  and  I  traveled  together  for  years  in 
succession  to  the  meetings  of  the  American  Associa- 
tion for  the  Advancement  of  Science,  and  enjoyed 
each  other's  company  vastly.     He  died  in  1881. 

During  the  last  few  years  the  ministers  of  our 
churches  in  town  have  been  young  men  for  the  most 
part.  They  were  very  active  as  pastors,  and  gener- 
ally they  were  successful.  Very  few  of  them  had 
time  to  prosecute  any  special  course  of  study,  but  I 
believe  they  carefully  prepared  their  sermons.  They 
had  little  time  for  mere  social  visiting,  and  I  had 
very  little  time  to  enjoy  it. 


132  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

This  would  seem  to  be  the  place  to  mention  the 
fact  that  I  have  never  had  any  personal  controversy 
worth  mentioning  with  any  of  my  clerical  brethren. 
There  has  been  coldness  of  intercourse  with  a  few, 
but  it  never  degenerated  into  personal  rancor  or 
complete  alienation.  With  two  men  who  treated 
me  very  unkindly  after  doing  them  favors  I  have 
had  no  social  intercourse  for  some  years.  They  do 
not  live  here,  and  I  seldom  meet  them.  God  for- 
give them  for  their  unkind  conduct  towards  me. 
Among  the  many  who  have  attacked  me,  and  most 
of  whom  I  have  never  noticed,  I  will  make  refer 
ence,  as  an  example  of  an  odd  controversialist,  to 
one  who  fiercely  assailed  my  ' '  Fifty  Years. ' '  I 
gently  corrected  a  few  of  his  errors.  He  wrote  to 
me  that  he  had  something  more  to  say,  and  begged 
me  to  let  him  have  the  last  word ! ! !  I  promised  not 
to  notice  him,  so  that  he  ' '  might  enjoy  the  triumph 
of  having  silenced  me. ' '  I  knew  well  enough  that 
the  more  severely  he  abused  the  book  the  more 
readily  it  would  sell,  and  it  gave  me  pleasure  to 
allow  him  such  a  cheap  enjoyment,  for  the  poor, 
1 '  underrated  ' '  soul  had  not  much  of  any  other  kind. 
I  was  told  that  this  same  man  attacked  me  in  a 
western  paper  ten  years  afterwards. 

I  once  had  occasion  to  call  an  impulsive  but  I 
believe  honest  minister  to  account  for  a  remark  he 
made  seriously  affecting  me.  He  vehemently  disa- 
vowed any  evil  design,  expressed  deep  regret  for 
having  given  me  any  uneasiness,  made  apologetic 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  1 33 

explanations,  and  begged  pardon  for  his  indiscretion. 
I  was  satisfied,  and  we  are  good  friends. 

Most  ministers  complain  of  the  difficulty  of  im- 
parting enough  of  interest  to  their  week-day  services 
to  attract  their  own  members  to  the  meetings.  I 
believe  that  this  is  a  universal  complaint.  I  have 
tried  various  expedients ;  one  was  to  invite  written 
questions  and  answer  them.  This  did  well  for  a 
time,  but  by  and  by  questions  of  an  objectionable 
or  personal  character  came  in,  and  the  design  was 
frustrated.  I  once  undertook  to  explain  difficult 
passages  of  the  Bible,  and  that  succeeded  pretty 
well  for  a  time.  I  lectured  on  the  geography  and 
natural  history  of  the  Scriptures,  and  various  other 
methods  were  temporarily  employed.  That  which 
brought  most  people  together  was  propounding  a 
question  and  inviting  members  to  express  their 
opinions  upon  it.  This  brought  out  some  sensible 
remarks,  but  sometimes  incompetent  persons  would 
annoy  us  with  their  ill-digested  talk,  and  sometimes 
we  had  a  regular  theological  controversy.  I  believe 
the  best  plan  after  all  is  faithfully  to  preach  the  old- 
fashioned  gospel. 

FIRST    CORNER-STONE. 

The  first  corner-stone  I  ever  assisted  at  laying 
was  that  of  St.  Matthew's,  in  New  street,  Philadel- 
phia, under  the  pastoral  care  of  the  Rev.  C.  P. 
Krauth,  Sr. ,  and  the  first  consecration  sermon  I  ever 
preached  was  in  that  church  when  finished,  on  July 


134 


LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 


1 8,  1830.  I  have  spoken  of  this  gentleman  before, 
and  shall  have  occasion  to  mention  him  again.  I 
would  never  grow  weary  of  lauding  his  exalted  vir- 
tues. He  and  I  lived  together  on  most  fraternal 
terms  until  he  died.  We  loved  each  other  as  broth- 
ers. He  was  a  man  of  brilliant  mind,  and  he  had  a 
wonderful  faculty  of  acquiring  knowledge.  During 
his  residence  in  Philadelphia  of  many  years  he  was 
a  most  industrious  reader,  but  too  miscellaneous, 
and  he  remembered  everything  he  read.  It  was 
only  after  he  went  to  Gettysburg  that  he  applied 
himself  to  those  branches  which  he  taught.  As  a 
teacher  he  was  too  indulgent,  of  which  some  of  his 
not  too  industrious  pupils  took  advantage. 

STUDENTS    IN    MY    HOUSE. 

During  my  long  pastorate  I  had  as  pupils  in  their 
preparatory  course  several  young  men  to  whom  I 
shall  allude  here.  The  first  was  Charles  A.  Hay, 
for  many  years  professor  at  Gettysburg  in  the  Semi- 
nary. The  wrhole  Church  knows  his  character  as  a 
teacher,  as  a  gentleman,  and  as  an  active  Christian. 
His  attainments  in  his  department  of  theological 
science  were  extensive,  and  his  success  as  a  teacher 
in  his  earlier  years  is  now  acknowledged  by  all  his 
pupils.  He  was  a  modest,  unpretending  man,  whose 
sterling  qualities  were  universally  known  and  es- 
teemed. 

There  was  another  man  who  for  several  years  was 
a  pensioner  upon  my  bounty,  but  he  never  succeeded 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  135 

in  our  ministry,  either  as  teacher  or  preacher.  He 
failed  lamentably  in  both  spheres.  He  was  unhappy 
in  several  other  relations,  and  left  us  for  another 
church  ' '  for  a  consideration ! ' '  He  was  helped  out 
of  some  difficulties,  and  paid  his  benefactors  by  the 
offer  of  his  services,  which  were  accepted.  My 
brothers  and  I  ipent  more  than  $1,000  in  bringing 
this  man  out,  but  he  accomplished  nothing.  The 
reason  why  we  took  him  up  was  that  his  mother  had 
been  a  nurse  and  "  help  "  in  my  mother's  family  for 
many  years,  and  took  care  cf  me  when  I  was  a  child. 

I  took  another  young  man  off  a  tailor's  bench, 
and  supported  him  until  he  was  fit  to  go  to  Gettys- 
burg, where  my  church  maintained  him  for  several 
years.  He  was  then  an  humble,  promising  boy.  But 
he  never  advanced  as  a  preacher,  and  was  employed 
in  teaching  in  female  seminaries.  After  he  ran  a 
career  among  us  he  ' '  departed, ' '  not  exactly  out  of 
this  life,  but  into  the  Episcopal  church,  of  which  he 
was  a  lay  member.  He  became  a  merchant  in  a 
neighboring  city.  I  met  his  brother-in-law  in  1895, 
who  told  me  that  he  died  many  years  ago,  but,  he 
added,  ' '  he  never  amounted  to  anything. ' ' 

Disappointed  ambition  plays  the  mischief  with 
some  of  these  fellows  who  have  no  grace  in  their 
hearts  and  no  brains  in  their  skulls.  Some  of  them 
are  vain  enough  to  think  themselves  entitled  to  high 
consideration,  and  when  they  do  not  receive  it,  be- 
cause unworthy  of  it,  they  behave  themselves  un- 
seemly.   They  complain  of  not  being  ' '  appreciated. ' ' 


136  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

I  once  had  another  chap  in  my  house  for  over  nine 
months,  who  had  a  Scotch  name,  but  his  mother 
being  a  plain  Pennsylvania  country  girl,  this  boy 
acquired  from  her  a  broad  half-German  accent.  I 
soon  got  tired  teaching  him  the  elements  of  educa- 
tion. My  folks  at  home  nursed  him  through  an  attack 
of  measles,  but  he  never  had  grace  enough  to  say 
"thank  you."  He  is  now  somewhere  in  the  west, 
but  not  in  our  ministry. 

I  had  still  another  young  man  with  me  for  several 
years  who  was  well  educated.  He  was  licensed  by 
our  Synod,  and  held  one  or  two  good  places,  but  was 
led  away  by  some  delusive  inventions  which  he  fool- 
ishly thought  he  had  made,  and  from  which  he  hoped 
to  accumulate  an  immense  fortune.  He  strayed  off 
to  a  foreign  country,  where  he  died  in  poverty. 

TEACHING. 

I  never  taught  school  in  my  life,  and  never  filled 
the  exalted  position  of  teacher  as  a  profession,  un- 
less my  lectureship  at  Gettysburg  may  be  thus  re- 
garded. I  have  taught  some  men  privately,  but 
without  compensation,  and  had  a  number  of  pupils 
in  elocution  and  a  few  other  branches,  which  was 
more  pleasure  than  labor. 

Some  years  ago  I  was  prevailed  upon  to  give  les- 
sons in  Hebrew  to  some  young  men  in  town  who 
were  not  students  of  theology.  We  met  early  in  the 
morning,  and  continued  it  for  some  weeks,  but  most 
of  them  grew  tired  of  it  and  would  not  study,  and  I 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  137 

refused  to  attend  any  longer.  I  had  two  other 
students  in  Hebrew,  one  a  candidate  for  the  Presby- 
terian church,  who  afterwards  for  many  years  served 
a  church  in  Washington,  where  he  died,  and  the 
other  was  a  candidate  for  the  Episcopal  ministry, 
who  became  a  worthy  and  influential  divine  in  Vir- 
ginia. I  had  made  considerable  progress  in  Hebrew, 
but  unhappily,  like  too  many  others,  I  neglected  it 
in  after  life.  I  usually  carried  with  me  a  neat  little 
Hebrew  Psalter,  and  read  it  diligently  while  travel- 
ing and  at  other  times,  but  that  also  gradually  was 
given  up.  I  ceased  to  be  a  daily  reader  of  the 
Hebrew  Scriptures,  which  I  now  very  much  regret. 
The  copy  of  the  Hebrew  Psalter  I  gave  to  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Brown,  of  Gettysburg. 

I  once  took  a  few  lessons  from  an  unwashed 
"  wandering  Jew,"  who  I  found  knew  very  little  of 
the  grammar,  and  he  soon  ran  away  from  his  board- 
ing house,  forgetting  to  pay  his  bill,  and  also  forget- 
ting to  return  a  fine  copy  of  Buxtorf 's  Dictionary 
which  I  had  loaned  him. 

A  foreign  Romish  priest  advertised  for  pupils. 
I  went  to  him  several  times,  but  soon  found  that  I 
knew  more  Hebrew  than  he  did.  He  could  not 
analyze  a  single  word,  nor  could  he  translate  a 
single  passage  in  Genesis  without  the  help  of  a 
modern  version.  I  sent  him  $5  and  quit,  after  two 
or  three  hours  of  lost  time  spent  with  this  wretched 
humbug. 

For  several  months  one  winter  I  met  five  or  six 


138  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

highly  educated  ladies,  and  read  German  with  them. 
Several  of  them,  having  studied  it  previously,  read 
Schiller  pretty  well. 

DIFFICULTIES. 

Like  other  pastors,  I  presume,  I  had  my  difficul- 
ties and  drawbacks,  arising  from  various  causes. 
Lack  of  success  was  one,  and  yet  I  never  had  reason 
to  complain  for  lack  of  Sunday  hearers,  although  I 
had  sent  off  two  colonies.  My  difficulties  and  dis- 
couragements arose  from  the  objectionable  conduct 
of  some  of  my  members,  the  lack  of  interest  in  the 
higher  spiritual  life  in  many  of  them,  the  lack  of 
liberality  in  their  contributions  to  church  objects, 
their  indisposition  to  personal  effort  in  church  work, 
the  absence  of  refined  fraternal  affection  in  some, 
the  meagreness  of  my  support,  the  absence  of  many 
from  the  usual  week-night  service,  and  many  other 
reasons  which  need  not  be  specified. 

I  never  got  into  any  personal  difficulty  with  any 
of  them  until  the  breaking  out  of  the  rebellion,  of 
which  I  shall  speak  hereafter,  but  I  once  gave 
irreconcilable  offence  to  a  family  by  marrying  some 
parties  connected  with  those  families  to  whom  they 
objected.  On  one  occasion  of  this  kind  several 
valuable  young  men,  closely  related  to  a  party  I 
married,  left  my  church,  although  there  was  a  sub- 
sequent reconciliation.  They  never  forgave  me. 
They  had  no  ground  of  offence  but  pride,  and  I 
never  regretted  what  I   did.      The  party  brought 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  1 39 

into  the  family  by  the  marriage  was  as  good  as  they 
were  any  day.  Sometimes  a  member  or  two  would 
leave  me  without  any  ostensible  cause,  but  on  ex- 
amination I  would  discover  that  there  was  some 
young  man  or  woman  in  the  case,  or  family  pride. 
Sometimes  the  arrival  or  settlement  of  a  popular 
preacher  in  town  would  draw  off,  for  a  while  at 
least,  some  of  the  lighter  material ;  but  in  the  course 
of  time  they  would  come  back  again,  finding  that 
the  solid  gospel  bread  of  the  old  home  was,  after 
all,  the  most  nourishing. 

When  Fuller,  the  eminent  Baptist  preacher,  came 
here,  he  had  large  audiences  and  created  great  sen- 
sation. He  was  a  strong  man,  and  an  effective  pul- 
pit orator.  Whilst  his  church  was  in  course  of  erec- 
tion some  of  us  ministers  invited  him  to  our  pulpits 
as  an  act  of  courtesy  to  a  stranger  of  distinction,  but 
he  was  careful  not  to  say  anything  about  his  Bap- 
tistic  notions.  When  he  got  his  new  church  then  he 
began  and  turned  the  heads  of  some  people  who 
submitted  to  immersion.  I  had  no  trouble  on  this 
account,  except  with  one  family,  of  which  two  very 
weak  sisters  were  somewhat  infected  with  the  error, 
but  they  did  not  leave  us.  I  was  requested  by  some 
of  my  people  to  preach  one  or  two  sermons  on  the 
subject  of  immersion.  I  studied  it  thoroughly,  and 
wrote  every  word.  After  preaching  once  or  twice  I 
never  had  any  trouble  afterwards.  Everybody  was 
satisfied  that  our  mode  was  Scriptural,  and  we  had 
peace. 


140  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

Dr.  Fuller  was  a  sociable  gentleman,  of  mild  and 
agreeable  manners.  He  narrated  a  little  incident 
to  me,  which  I  think  worth  inserting  here.  In 
his  younger  days  he  once  preached  to  a  country 
congregation  as  a  visitor,  on  which  occasion  the 
nabob  of  the  county,  Col.  Blank,  was  present. 
When  Fuller  descended  from  the  pulpit  the  Colonel 
advanced  towards  him  with  tears  streaming  down 
his  face,  and  threw  his  arms  around  the  preacher's 
neck,  and  amid  sobs  and  deep  penitential  sighs 
hailed  him  as  the  instrument  of  leading  him  to 
Christ,  professing  his  faith  in  the  strongest  lan- 
guage, and  declaring  his  purpose  to  lead  a  godly 
life.  The  preacher  was  delighted  at  the  sudden 
and  remarkable  conversion  of  so  influential  a  gen- 
tleman, and  welcomed  him  most  cordially,  but  he 
was  surprised  that  the  happy  event  created  no  ex- 
citement or  even  any  uncommon  interest  in  the  peo- 
ple. On  returning  to  his  lodgings  in  the  carriage  of 
his  host,  he  was  the  more  surprised  that  no  allusion 
whatever  was  made  to  it.  He  at  length  opened  the 
subject  himself,  and  spoke  in  raptures  of  the  con- 
version of  Col.  Blank.  The  only  reply  he  received 
was,  and  it  was  a  damper,  ' '  Oh,  we  have  often  wit- 
nessed that  scene;  he  always  acts  it  when  he  is 
drunk ! ' '     Fuller  collapsed. 

The  most  humiliating  experience  I  ever  had  arose 
from  the  wicked  conduct  of  a  man  whom  I  received 
into  the  church  by  baptism.  He  had  been  trained 
among  the  Quakers,  and  was  at  this  time  connected 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  141 

with  an  influential  daily  paper.  He  was  respectably 
married,  and  had  several  children.  He  became  a 
"praying  member"  and  an  active  Sunday-school 
teacher.  A  few  doubted  his  sincerity,  for  they  had 
known  him  in  business  before  his  professed  conver- 
sion. Less  than  a  year  after  this  man  became  an 
incendiary  of  several  prominent  public  buildings, 
and  to  elude  suspicion  he  set  fire  to  his  own  printing 
office.  He  was  never  arrested  for  these  crimes,  but 
the  universal  belief  was  that  he  was  the  perpetrator. 
Some  time  after,  he  was  apprehended  in  the  act  of 
purloining  letters  from  the  post-office,  where  he  had 
free  access  as  the  manager  of  an  influential  daily 
paper.  He  was  tried,  convicted,  and  sentenced  to 
jail.  After  a  short  time  President  Van  Buren  par- 
doned him  on  condition  that  he  would  leave  the 
country.  It  was  given  out  that  he  went  to  South 
America,  where  it  was  said  he  died.  There  is 
reason  to  believe  that  his  professed  conversion  was 
all  a  sham  to  cover  up  his  iniquity.  He  selected  my 
church  as  the  stage  on  which  he  played  his  hypo- 
critical role  because  there  were  several  of  his  rela- 
tives who  were  members  of  it,  and  whose  good 
opinion  it  was  important  to  him  to  secure,  and 
besides  I  was  intimate  with  him  myself,  for  he  did 
me  some  acts  of  kindness.  This  was  the  severest 
blow  I  ever  received  from  a  church  difficulty. 

I  never  had  any  serious  difficulties  with  my  Coun- 
cil. We  often  differed,  but  amicably.  With  a  few 
exceptions  they  were  moderate  and  judicious  men, 


I42  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

who  always  treated  me  most  respectfully.  I  never 
took  any  active  part  in  the  financial  affairs  of  the 
church,  it  being  a  matter  which,  unfortunately,  I 
did  not  understand,  and  with  which,  as  a  minister, 
I  had  nothing  to  do.  I  had  no  reason  to  leave  the 
"Word  of  God  and  serve  tables,"  and  yet  it  is  a 
grand  qualification  in  a  minister  to  have  financial 
aptitude  and  business  tact,  but  he  has  no  occasion  to 
exercise  these  gifts  if  he  has  a  sensible  and  judicious 
Council. 

I  have  had,  like  most  other  men,  some  trouble- 
some men  to  deal  with.  I  remember  one  who  had 
taken  offence  at  me  merely  because  I  did  not  suc- 
cumb to  his  unreasonable  demands,  and  he  was  de- 
termined to  create  a  disturbance  in  the  church, 
vainly  presuming  that  he  would  have  a  following. 
One  morning  as  I  was  preaching  as  usual  he  suddenly 
arose,  left  his  pew,  which  was  near  the  pulpit, 
walked  out,  making  all  the  noise  he  could  with  his 
heavy  tread.  I  took  no  notice  of  it,  not  knowing 
the  cause  of  his  sudden  departure.  He  remained  in 
the  vestibule  till  church  was  out,  and  then  began  to 
speak  harshly  about  me ;  but  not  a  man  coincided 
with  him,  which  mortified  him  to  the  quick.  He 
continued  to  come  to  church,  and  by  kind  treat- 
ment he  was  won  back  again,  and  continued  my  fast 
friend  until  the  rebellion  broke  out,  when  he  and 
a  few  others  became  my  bitter  enemies,  and  did  not 
speak  to  me  as  long  as  they  lived. 

I  have  elsewhere  said  in  this  book  that  after  I  had 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  143 

resigned  the  First  church  I  served  sever  other 
churches  in  town  provisionally.  On  one  occasion 
one  of  these  churches  had  elected  a  minister,  and  I 
of  course  retired.  Afcer  I  had  preached  my  last 
sermon,  on  coming"  down  the  stairs  in  the  midst  of  a 
dense  crowd,  one  man  said  in  a  loud  voice,  so  that 
he  might  be  heard  all  round,  and  knowing  too  that 
I  and  another  person  dearer  to  me  than  my  life 
would  hear  it,  ' '  Well,  thank  God,  it  is  his  last. ' '  I 
would  not  have  noticed  it  on  my  own  account,  but  I 
regarded  it  as  a  deliberate  insult  to  the  cherished 
person  with  me.  I  left  her  in  charge  of  a  friend, 
and  called  to  the  man  that  I  wanted  to  see  him  in 
the  lecture-room  immediately.  I  asked  one  or  two 
friends  to  go  with  me,  and  the  way  I  belabored  that 
fellow  with  hard  words,  yet  within  moderation,  was 
such  a  lesson  as  he  never  learned  before. 

If  I  had  paid  any  attention  to  the  various  reports 
1  heard  of  what  some  said  of  me,  and  especially  of 
each  other,  after  I  left  the  First  church,  I  would 
have  had  nothing  to  do  but  to  try  to  settle  disputes 
and  reconcile  contending  parties,  but  I  kept  aloof 
from  all  strife.  Still  it  was  some  years  before  sev- 
eral of  them  looked  kindly  upon  me.  Their  will 
was  not  my  will,  and  they  would  not  sustain  any 
man  who  would  not  follow  their  lead. 

One  whole  family  left  my  church,  which  annoyed 
me  considerably,  but  as  it  was  not  occasioned  by  any 
dissatisfaction  with  me  I  endured  the  loss  calmly. 
The  family  was  highly  respectable,    of   increasing 


144  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

wealth,  residing  in  what  was  then  (1852)  a  fashion- 
able part  of  the  city,  and  aspiring  to  social  position, 
which  had  not  yet  been  attained. 

The  plain  fact  is  that  my  church  was  not  fashion- 
able enough,  nor  did  it  contain  the  class  of  people 
whose  society  such  persons  affect,  and  hence  the 
younger  portion  of  the  household  gave  their  sober- 
minded  and  well-disposed  parents  no  rest  till  they 
"  took  a  pew  "  in  a  fashionable  and  influential 
church.  The  father  had  not  been  born  nor  reared 
among  us  as  a  church  people,  but  the  mother  was  of 
Lutheran  birth  and  training,  and  all  her  own  family 
was  closely  associated  with  our  Church.  The  father 
wrote  me :  "  I  beg  you  to  understand  that  the  step 
is  not  induced  by  any  want  of  respect  for  or  attach- 
ment to  you;  on  the  contrary,  for  yourself  and 
family,  as  also  the  church,  my  regard  is  as  it  has 
been,  the  highest,  and  my  every  desire  is  for  your 
success  and  prosperity."  Everybody  in  and  out  of 
my  church  who  was  interested  in  the  least  degree  in 
this  affair,  or  who  was  acquainted  with  the  persons, 
attributed  it  to  what  I  would  call  social  ambition, 
but  I  have  been  informed  that  success  in  that  direc- 
tion was  not  secured. 

Occasionally  an  individual  or  two  left  my  church, 
either  led  away  by  wives  belonging  to  other  churches 
whom  they  married,  or  by  disappointment  in  not 
being  elected  into  the  Church  Council,  or  by  not 
' '  being  made  much  of, "  or  by  an  ambition  to  be- 
come ' '  leaders, ' '  or  by  a  desire  to  be  among  those 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  1 45 

who  depend  much  upon  excitement.  I  remember 
two  men  who  left  us,  who  were  otherwise  fair  men, 
but  who  were  of  ordinary  minds  and  no  education. 
I  heard  of  them  afterwards  as  being-  class  leaders  or 
local  preachers,  and  thus  their  ambition  was  grati- 
fied. I  believe  one  of  them  did  not  hold  out  long. 
I  have  no  doubt  that  he  aspired  to  something  higher 
among  the  people  he  joined,  and  being  disappointed 
became  "  soured  "  and  "  lost  his  religion."  None 
of  the  backsliders  from  my  church  went  to  the  Bap- 
tists or  Romanists. 

One  very  fair  man,  extremely  backward  in  edu- 
cation, and  of  no  social  influence  whatever,  but 
honest  and  truly  pious,  left  my  church  because  he 
had  moved  out  of  our  bounds,  and  a  Methodist 
church  was  near  at  hand,  the  people  of  which  made 
a  great  deal  of  him,  which  flattered  him  vastly.  He 
joined  them,  and  was  at  once  made  an  officer  or 
class  leader.  He  gave  us  the  credit,  however,  of 
making  a  Christian  of  him,  and,  as  I  have  heard, 
annoyed  them  by  the  everlasting  repetition,  when 
"  giving  his  experience,"  of  the  account  of  an  inter- 
view with  me  in  my  study  late  at  night,  when,  as  he 
said,  he  acquired  new  and  clear  views  of  Christian 
duty  and  doctrine.  I  meet  him  occasionally  now, 
when  he  repeats  the  same  story,  and  tells  me  he  has 
often  told  it  in  class-meetings,  which  I  can  well  be- 
lieve. I  also  sometimes  meet  a  Methodist  brother, 
who  never  belonged  to  us,  to  whom  it  seems  to  be  a 
pleasure  to  tell  me  whenever  he  meets  me  that  his 
10 


I46  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

mother  was  a  Lutheran,  and  I  always  reply,  "  That's 
the  reason  why  you  are  a  pretty  fair  and  respectable 
sort  of  a  man  now. "     He  agrees  to  it. 

I  had  difficulties  of  another  character,  and  they 
arose  out  of  my  own  preaching.  Not  a  few  persons 
congratulated  me  upon  what  they  called  my  M  self- 
possession,"  whereas  they  did  not  know  that  I  was 
usually  so  abashed  that  I  scarcely  knew  what  I  was 
saying  and  scarcely  dared  to  look  people  in  the  face. 
I  have  more  than  often  half  resolved  never  to  face 
my  people  again  from  the  pulpit,  so  wretchedly  poor 
and  weak  was  my  preaching,  even  after  good  prepa- 
ration. I  have  sometimes  been  so  utterly  ashamed 
that  I  was  almost  afraid  to  give  out  the  last  hymn, 
and  have  left  the  church  without  venturing  to  speak 
to  anybody,  and  expecting  to  hear  that  my  services 
would  no  longer  be  required.  I  would  go  home, 
and  on  my  knees  beg  God  to  give  me  some  token  by 
which  1  might  know  whether  He  wanted  me  in  the 
pulpit  any  longer,  for  I  was  sure  that  my  people  did 
not.  Was  this  a  temptation?  or  nervousness?  or  in- 
competency? And  how  doubly  humiliating  to  be 
told  sometimes  that  some  of  these  discourses,  which 
brought  me  down  to  the  very  dust  in  shame,  were 
"  fine,"  "  impressive,"  "  the  very  best  we  have  had 
for  some  time. ' '  Oh  what  wretched  judges  you  are ! 
you  cannot  appreciate  anything  good!  you  are  con- 
trolled by  your  feelings  and  not  by  reason ! 

There  was  one  period,  soon  after  the  wearisome 
controversy  in  the  Observer  on  "  New  Measures," 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  147 

that  some  men,  seconded  by  that  paper,  tried  "to 
write  me  down. ' '  I  replied  once  or  twice,  when  a 
few  friends  took  it  out  of  my  hands  and  vigorously 
defended  me.  One  of  them  was  asked  by  a  very 
conspicuous  opponent  of  mine  ' '  how  much  he  was 
paid  for  advocating  my  cause?' '  He  was  too  amiable 
to  ask  in  return  what  he  thought,  "  how  much  are 
you  paid  for  letting  loose  your  dogs  upon  him?" 

I  did  not  escape  the  fate  of  men  who  take  a  con- 
spicuous part  in  church  questions,  and  who  fearlessly 
express  their  sentiments,  and  who  will  not  submit  to 
be  governed  by  a  leader.  I  never  allowed  men  who 
treated  me  unkindly  to  know  that  I  was  aware  of 
their  ill  feelings  towards  me,  excepting  in  one  or 
two  cases,  and  I  have  had  the  satisfaction  of  doing  a 
few  of  them  some  slight  favors  for  which  they  asked. 
I  wonder  how  such  men  feel  when  they  are  com- 
pelled to  solicit  acts  of  kindness  of  their  brethren  of 
whom  they  have  spoken  evil  and  whom  they  have 
tried  to  injure. 

I  have  patiently  borne  many  injuries,  and  did  not 
resent  provoking  injustice  done  me,  because  I  was 
afraid  of  hardening  the  hearts  of  such  men  against 
the  gospel.  I  thought  it  best  to  suffer  rather  than 
give  occasion  to  men  to  find  fault  with  it,  which  they 
would  have  done  if  I  had  betrayed  any  unchristian 
retaliation.  Those  to  whom  I  especially  allude  are 
all  dead?  and  may  they  have  found  pardon  of  God 
in  their  dying  day! 

I  may  have  mentioned  it  before,  but  I  have  never 


148  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

been  subpoenaed  to  give  testimony  but  twice  in  court ; 
one  was  to  swear  to  the  good  character  of  a  young 
man  who  was  indicted  in  Baltimore  County  Court 
for  some  misdemeanor,  and  was  acquitted,  and  the 
other  was  in  a  divorce  case  in  Delaware. 

I  once  got  into  a  slight  difficulty  for  having  un- 
guardedly uttered  what  everybody  knew  to  be  true, 
that  a  certain  man  who  was  a  vestryman  in  a  cer- 
tain church  was  an  unbeliever.  He  heard  of  it, 
and  threatened  me  with  prosecution.  A  prominent 
lawyer,  whom  he  had  employed,  sent  for  me  to  come 
to  his  office  and  stated  his  case,  advising  me  that  it 
would  not  do  for  me,  a  young  minister,  to  engage 
in  public  litigation  with  men  like  his  client,  and  that 
even  if  I  could  prove  the  allegation  (which  he  knew 
well  enough  I  could  do)  it  would  produce  an  un- 
healthy and  useless  excitement.  He  proposed  a 
method  of  settlement,  to  which  I  assented,  and  the 
matter  was  dropped.  The  astute  lawyer  was  well 
aware  that  I  had  it  in  my  power  to  show  up  his  client 
in  a  way  not  favorable  to  his  character. 

During  a  religious  stir  in  my  church,  two  young 
men,  not  originally  Lutherans,  thought  that  I  was 
not  zealous  enough,  and  by  that  they  meant  that  I 
did  not  encourage  religious  extravagance,  that  is, 
groanings  of  others  during  prayer,  and  loud  amens. 
They  tried  to  get  up  a  party  against  me,  but  failed. 
They  threatened  to  leave,  but  did  not.  They  both 
lived  to  be  old  men,  and  although  they  ceased  to  wor- 
ship with  us,  they  continued  to  be  my  strong  friends. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

EARLY  HISTORY  OF  THE  LUTHERAN  OBSERVER. 

I  began  scribbling  for  the  newspapers  even  during 
my  student  life  at  Dickinson  College,  in  1822,  where 
my  first  communication  appeared  in  the  Carlisle 
Volunteer.  I  never  had  the  boyish  vanity  to  mount 
the  poetical  Pegasus,  and  can  say  with  a  facetious 
friend  of  mine  that  ' '  he  never  wrote  more  than  half 
a  line  of  poetry,  and  there  stuck.  "  I  have  continued 
to  indulge  this  scribbling  mania  all  through  life,  of 
which  the  pages  of  the  Lutheran  Observer  and  some 
other  church  papers,  as  well  as  those  outside  the 
Church,  bear  ample  witness. 

BIRTH    AND    INFANCY    OF    THE    LUTHERAN    OBSERVER. 

When  the  Lutheran  Lntelligencer,  which  had  been 
published  and  edited  in  Frederick,  Md. ,  for  five 
years  by  the  Rev.  D.  F.  Schaeffer,  died  in  1831,  and 
the  Lutheran  Magazine,  edited  by  Dr.  Lintner,  in 
Schoharie,  N.  Y  ,  had  also  breathed  its  last  in  1830, 
there  was  no  English  paper  in  the  Church  from 
January,  1830,  to  August,  1831,  a  period  of  eighteen 
months — "  hiatus  valde  deflendus"  This  was  a 
condition  of  things  not  to  be  endured.     The  Semi- 

(*49) 


150  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    CF 

nary  at  Gettysburg  had  already  been  in  operation 
four  years;  many  of  our  congregations  were  fast 
becoming:  English ;  all  the  influential  denominations 
had  their  church  journals;  many  of  our  ministers 
wanted  a  vehicle  for  the  communication  of  their 
thoughts;  an  English  paper  was  properly  regarded 
as  essential  to  our  respectability  and  progress;  and 
the  leading  spirits  among  us,  such  as  Krauth,  Sr., 
B.  Kurtz,  Schmucker,  Keller,  Lintner,  Heyer,  Reck 
and  ethers,  besides  some  influential  laymen,  deter- 
mined to  resuscitate  the  deceased  Intelligencer,  or 
rather  create  a  new  paper  worthy  the  patronage  of 
our  people.  The  questions  now  were,  who  should 
edit  it,  and  where  should  it  be  published?  Gettys- 
burg was  already  beginning  to  be  looked  upon  as  the 
headquarters  cf  the  Church,  a  sort  of  Lutheran  Wit- 
tenberg (with  the  eld  Wittenberg  spirit  left  out),  the 
Canterbury  of  our  Zion,  with  few  Lutheran  residents 
and  no  mediaeval  cathedral.  It  was  thought  that 
the  great  organ  should  play  its  tunes  (or  at  least 
have  its  bellows)  in  this  obscure,  cut-of-the-way 
place.  It  was  to  be  printed  by  ' '  The  Press  of  the 
Theological  Seminary,"  as  it  was  pempously  called 
on  the  title  page  of  a  book,  but  which  was  not  owned 
by  the  Seminary,  but  was  the  property  of  and  run 
by  a  fourth-class  German  printer  in  an  office  8x10  in 
dimensions.  Well,  the  prospectus  was  issued,  and 
the  name  Observer  was  given  it,  without  any  dis- 
tinguishing prefix.  This  non-distinctiveness — this 
absence  of  a  denominational  cognomen — displeased 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  151 

some  of  the  Advisory  Council,  who  insisted  upon  a 
name  for  the  infant  which  would  indicate  its  family 
relations  and  pedigree.  But  there  was  one  potential 
objection,  which  was  simply  this:  the  majority  of  the 
Gettysburgers  were  Presbyterians — very  respectable 
people.  We  had  lately  come  among  them,  and  were 
poor  and  of  little  account.  It  was  politic  to  secure 
their  good  will,  and  do  nothing  to  offend  them — not 
to  say  a  word  or  do  an  act  that  looked  like  sectarian- 
ism ! ! !  It  was  argued  by  the  leading  man,  who  had 
consented  to  edit  the  paper  for  a  time,  that  the  title, 
Lutheran  Observer,  would  awaken  denominational 
jealousy,  and  perhaps  social  discord.  The  others 
would  not  yield,  and  to  avoid  a  total  collapse  the 
compromise  was  made  of  transferring  the  paper  to 
some  other  place,  where  the  name  Lutheran  would 
give  no  offence,  and  where  probably  a  man  could  be 
found  who  would  maintain  the  dignity  and  honor  of 
that  illustrious  appellation.  But  it  was  not  con- 
venient for  any  of  them  to  assume  the  work.  They 
then  bethought  themselves  that  there  was  a  young 
man  in  Baltimore  who  might  be  unwise  enough  to 
undertake  it.  They  knew  that  he  was  without  ex- 
perience, without  capital,  and  without  influence  be- 
yond his  own  small  congregation.  There  were  no 
subscribers,  no  advertising  patronage,  no  reliable 
promises,  and  no  guarantees  in  the  event  of  loss. 
They  absolutely  prevailed  upon  this  ministerial 
youngster  to  take  the  responsibility,  with  the  implied 
understanding  that  the  Church  was  to  receive  the 
profits  and  he  to  pay  the  losses ! ! 


152  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

Well,  No.  i  of  the  Lutheran  Observer  was  issued 
in  August,  1 83 1,  as  a  semi-monthly.  The  number 
of  subscribers  gradually  increased,  but  I  do  not  think 
it  ever  exceeded  1,000.  I  was  overwhelmed  with 
communications  on  all  manner  of  church  subjects, 
and  many  of  them  equaled  anything  that  has  ap- 
peared in  the  Observer  since  that  day.  I  presume 
very  few  copies  are  extant  at  the  present  time,  but 
they  are  dearly  cherished  by  those  who  have  them, 
and  only  because  they  give  a  fair  histoiy  of  the 
Church  at  that  period,  and  because  lovers  of  old 
books  earnestly  covet  such  antiquities. 

It  would  be  wasting  time  to  specify  the  leading 
articles,  but  the  reflecting  man  will  see  in  those 
pages  the  germ  of  many  grand  enterprises  in  which 
we  now  rejoice,  and  which  are  now  so  vigorously 
defended  by  the  present  editor.  ' '  The  boy  is  father 
of  the  man;"  that  old  saying  is  exemplified  in  this 
case.  More  than  one  man  of  good  sense  and  culti- 
vated taste  has  said  that  these  early  volumes  of  the 
Observer  are,  to  this  day,  instructive  and  interesting 
documents.  The  first  volume  was  in  8vo.  form,  and 
the  second  in  4*0. 

I  devoted  my  time  to  this  business  for  two  years 
without  compensation,  but  I  endured  much  vexation, 
gave  offense  to  some  subscribers  whom  I  asked  for 
the  money  they  owed  me,  and  brought  down  upon 
myself  the  ' '  celestial  wrath  ' '  of  some  clerical  cor- 
respondents whose  undigested  and  crude  material  I 
could  not  consent  to  publish.  But  this  is  the  com- 
mon fate  of  editors ! 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  153 

In  1833  the  Rev.  B.  Kurtz,  then  out  of  health, 
wishing  to  cease  pastoral  and  pulpit  labor  for  a 
season,  consented  to  assume  the  editorial  tripod,  and 
in  that  year  the  paper  was  transferred  to  him.  He 
came  to  Baltimore,  and  for  twenty-five  years  con- 
ducted it  with  varying-  success.  He  devoted  his 
entire  time  and  high  business  qualifications  to  it, 
and  made  it  a  power  in  the  Church. 

Editor  No.  i,  upon  collecting  all  the  money  he 
could,  without  however  making  much  exertion,  had 
the  magnificent  sum  of  $60  as  profit  of  two  years' 
work.  With  part  of  this  I  bought  a  lot  of  shade 
trees,  to  be  planted  in  front  of  the  Seminary  at  Get- 
tysburg, and  the  balance  I  distributed  among  a  few 
poor  widows  of  my  church.  The  subscription  book, 
which  contained  about  $500  of  unpaid  subscriptions, 
I  gave  to  some  association  in  the  Seminary,  with  the 
privilege  of  keeping  all  they  could  collect ;  but  I  be- 
lieve they  were  not  very  successful,  perhaps  because 
they  were  not  energetic.  Old  subscription  books 
are  at  best  poor  stock.  I  was  sorry  to  learn  that  the 
efforts  to  collect  these  unpaid  accounts  met  with  in- 
different success,  in  many  instances. 

The  full  history  of  the  Observer  has  been  written, 
and  any  persons  curious  on  such  historic  lore  may 
profitably  consult  the  paper  in  its  issues  of  January, 
1877,  or  my  Bibliotheca  Lutherana,  p.  131. 

OTHER     ENGLISH     LUTHERAN     MINISTERS    IN     BALTIMORE. 

I  have  spent  the  whole  of  my  ministerial  life  in 


154 


LIFE    REMINISCE^TCES    OF 


this  city,  and  my  friends  know  it  has  not  been  a  short 
one.  It  occurred  to  me  to-day  that  it  would  be  in- 
teresting, at  least  to  me,  to  look  back  and  see  how 
many  other  English  ministers  of  our  church  had 
lived  here  during  my  time.  I  cannot  here  do  much 
more  than  mention  their  names,  with  perhaps  a  few 
observations  concerning  them. 

I  will  begin  with  the  First  church. 

After  my  service  of  33  years,  I  resigned  in  i860, 
and  assumed  the  duties  of  Librarian  of  the  Peabody 
Institute,  a  position  of  which  I  have  spoken  more  at 
large  at  another  place.  After  a  long  and  rather 
lively  election,  the  Rev.  Dr.  J.  McCron,  at  that  time 
pastor  of  the  Third  church,  on  Monument  street, 
was  chosen  my  successor,  his  competitor  being  the 
Rev.  T.  Stork,  D.  D.  Dr.  McCron  came  to  us  from 
the  Methodists,  among  whom  he  had  been  an  ex- 
horter,  or  a  local  preacher,  and  schoolmaster.  He 
had  been  a  sailor  in  early  life,  and  had  seen  a  good 
deal  of  the  world.  He  was  socially  a  very  agreeable 
man,  and  had  some  of  the  gifts  of  a  natural  orator. 
He  could  hardly  be  called  a  theologian,  though  a  very 
popular  preacher.  He  was  born  in  England,  of  Irish 
parents,  and  hence  always  called  himself  an  Eng- 
lishman by  birth.  I  gave  him  the  title  of  "  Our 
Irish  Orator,"  which  by  no  means  offended  him. 
No  man  could  entertain  a  company  of  his  friends 
more  agreeably  than  he,  and  his  society  was  courted 
by  men  who  loved  hilarious  enjoyment.  He  was 
sorely  perplexed  during  high  secession  times,  at  the 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  1 55 

beginning  of  the  Rebel  war.  He  did  not  know 
which  side  to  espouse,  for  he  had  friends  in  his 
church  on  one  side  or  the  other,  and  he  assumed  the 
equivocal  and  dangerous  position  of  sympathizing 
with  both  sides  in  turn.  This  course  injured  his 
standing  in  both  parties.  He  however  had  warm 
friends  who  supported  him  cordially  to  the  end  of 
his  pastorate. 

In  1872  he  accepted  the  position  of  Superintendent 
of  the  Female  Academy  at  Hagerstown,  but  his 
gifts  were  not  such  as  fitted  him  for  educational 
work.  After  that  he  became  pastor  of  the  church  at 
Bloomsburg,  then  at  Pottsville,  then  at  Middletown, 
Md. ,  where  he  remained  a  short  time,  and  then  went 
to  Philadelphia,  where  he  preached  to  a  small  con- 
gregation. There  he  died  in  1881,  and  was  buried 
by  some  of  his  friends,  and  probably  by  the  Masonic 
Fraternity.  His  remains  were  subsequently  re- 
moved to  Baltimore. 

He  was  succeeded  by  the  Rev.  Joseph  Barclay, 
D.  D.,  who  improved  the  cndition  of  the  church. 
During  his  pastorate  the  house  of  worship  and  par- 
sonage, on  Lexington  street,  were  destroyed  by  fire, 
after  which  the  people  resolved  to  sell  that  ground, 
and  build  a  new  house  in  some  growing  section  of 
the  city.  The  result  was  the  elegant  church  at  the 
corner  of  Lanvale  and  Fremont  streets.  Several 
years  after,  he  took  charge  of  a  church  in  Dayton, 
Ohio,  which  he  left  in  1887,  and  returned  to  Balti- 
more.    He  was  succeeded  in  the  First  Church  here 


156  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

by  the  Rev.  M.  W.  Hamma,  D.  D.,  who  came  here 
from  a  church  in  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.  He  is  a  first-class 
gentleman  and  an  industrious  pastor.  He  resigned 
on  account  of  ill  health  in  1886,  and  was  succeeded 
by  the  Rev.  Albert  H.  Studebaker,  D.  D.,  formerly 
of  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  who  entered  upon  his  work  with 
the  energy  which  ensures  success. 

The  first  pastor  of  the  Second  Lutheran  church, 
on  Lombard  street,  was  the  Rev.  Charles  P.  Krauth, 
who  at  that  time  was  preaching  to  a  small  congrega- 
tion at  Canton,  East  Baltimore.  He  was  under 
twenty  years  of  age,  and  already  gave  promise  of 
his  subsequent  career  as  a  scholar  and  theologian. 
His  death  in  1882  was  universally  regarded  as  a 
most  sad  calamity  to  the  Church,  for  he  was  by  all 
looked  upon  as  the  most  brilliant  star  in  the  whole 
galaxy.  He  bore  the  same  relation  to  me  as  I  did 
to  his  sainted  father.  We  were  the  closest,  warmest 
friends  as  long  as  they  lived,  although  there  was  a 
considerable  disparity  of  years.  I  became  the 
father's  friend  when  I  was  under  22,  and  Charles 
became  mine  when  he  was  under  19.  During  all 
his  life  he  was  in  my  family  almost  as  one  of  us. 

Charles  was  succeeded  at  the  Second  church  by 
the  Rev.  C.  H.  Ewing,  a  Presbyterian  minister  who 
joined  our  Synod.  Then  came  the  Rev.  J.  A.  Seiss, 
D.  D.,  who  has  since  become  quite  eminent  in  the 
Church.  His  services  as  a  preacher  and  a  writer 
deserve  a  longer  notice  than  I  have  space  to  give. 
He  is  now (1890)  the  pastor  of  an  influential  church 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  157 

in  Philadelphia,  where  he  has  achieved  his  high 
reputation. 

The  Rev.  Chas.  H.  Hersh  was  the  successor  of 
Dr.  Seiss,  but  he  died  in  less  than  a  year  (?)  after 
his  settlement.     He  was  a  godly  and  amiable  man. 

The  Rev.  Joel  Swartz  followed.  The  Rev  Irving 
Magee  succeeded  him.  He  moved  to  Albany  when 
he  resigned,  and  thence  went  to  the  Presbyterians. 

The  Rev.  E.  J.  Wolf  came  next.  He  is  at  present 
Professor  in  the  Theological  Seminary  at  Gettys- 
burg. He  was  succeeded  by  the  Rev.  George  Scholl, 
who  has  recently  moved  to  Hanover  (1883).  He 
was  succeeded  by  the  Rev.  L.  Kuhlman  in  1884. 
The  Rev.  G.  W.  Miller,  D.  D.,  was  his  successor. 

The  Third  church  (Monument  street)  was  organ- 
ized by  some  members  of  my  church  in  1841,  who 
erected  a  small  chapel  about  a  year  later.  In  1843 
the  Rev.  W.  A.  Passavant,  at  that  time,  as  C.  P. 
Krauth  had  been,  a  missionary  at  Canton,  was 
chosen  pastor.  He  was  followed  by  the  Rev.  Ap- 
pleby, who  came  to  us  from  the  Methodists.  The 
Rev.  James  A.  Brown  succeeded  him,  afterwards 
the  eminent  theologian  and  profound  thinker  at 
Gettysburg  Seminary,  whose  sudden  paralytic  attack 
deprived  us  of  his  invaluable  services,  and  whose 
death  several  years  after  was  lamented  by  the  whole 
Church.  The  theological  attainments  of  Dr.  Brown 
were  extensive,  and  his  general  scholarship  uni- 
versally acknowledged.  His  knowledge  was  accu- 
rate ;  he  knew  things  thoroughly ;  his  thoughts  were 


158  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

clear  as  the  atmosphere,  and  his  temperament  cool 
and  calm  as  a  morning  breeze.  No  opponent  could 
throw  him  off  his  guard,  and  he  was  a  dangerous 
man  to  encounter  in  debate,  unless  your  cause  was 
manifestly  right.  He  was  not  born  within  our  fold, 
but  from  conviction  entered  it  after  he  had  attained 
to  manhood,  and  heartily  espousing  our  cause,  he 
maintained  it  vigorously  to  the  end. 

Dr.  Brown  possessed  a  moral  courage  that  nothing 
could  daunt.  If  the  whole  history  of  his  experience 
in  South  Carolina,  at  the  breaking  out  of  the  Rebel 
war,  and  of  his  firmness  in  maintaining  his  princi- 
ples, were  told,  it  would  excite  the  admiration  of 
friend  and  foe.  His  courage  in  opposing  the  theo- 
logical teaching  of  the  man  who  had  been  his  own 
professor  in  the  Seminary  eighteen  years  before,  in 
a  strong  pamphlet,  and  showing  his  un-Lutheranism, 
deserves  the  highest  praise.  Many  more  character- 
istic incidents  might  be  given. 

The  Rev.  P.  Anstadt  followed.  The  Rev.  A.  W. 
Lilly,  D.  D.,  now  of  York,  Pa.,  then  came,  in  Oc- 
tober, 185 1,  and  during  his  time  the  present  brick 
church  was  built,  although  it  has  undergone  some 
enlargements  and  other  improvements  since  he  left, 
in  1855.  He  was  followed  by  the  Rev.  Samuel 
Sprecher,  now  in  the  Presbyterian  church.  Then 
came  the  Rev.  H.  Bishop,  who  also  died  in  the 
Presbyterian  ministry  in  the  west.  When  poor 
Bishop  left  the  state  of  things  was  deplorable,  and 
as  the  church  had  been  so  deeply  reduced  as  to  be 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  159 

unable  to  call  a  minister  they  applied  to  me,  who 
was  not  then  engaged,  and  I  served  them  at  a  very 
small  salary.  During  this  engagement  the  church 
building  was  enlarged  by  extending  it  in  the  rear. 
I  retired,  and  then,  contrary  to  all  the  advice  of  ju- 
dicious friends,  they  elected  a  strange  genius  named 
Graves,  who  nourished  exceedingly  for  several 
years,  capturing  the  half  of  Old  Town  by  storm ; 
but  his  sky-rockets  all  burned  high  in  the  air,  and 
after  a  whiz  and  an  emission  of  harmless  sparks 
nothing  came  down  but  a  stick.     Exit  poor  Graves! 

The  Rev.  I.  C.  Burke  is  the  present  laborious  and 
successful  pastor  of  that  church. 

St.  Mark's  was  organized  in  i860  by  a  band  of 
nearly  100  members  who  left  the  First  church  when 
Dr.  McCron  was  elected  pastor  of  it.  They  bought 
their  present  house  of  worship  from  the  Presby- 
terians, which  was  in  a  neglected  condition,  and 
in  subsequent  years  and  various  times  spent  thous- 
ands of  dollars  in  its  improvement  and  renovation. 
The  Rev.  Theophilus  Stork,  D.  D.,  then  of  Phila- 
delphia, was  elected  first  pastor,  and  served  them 
faithfully,  and  built  them  up  in  every  sense.  He 
was  not  in  good  health,  and  soon  was  compelled  to 
relinquish  the  work.  He  was  what  may  be  called 
an  elegant  preacher — he  had  the  most  refined  taste, 
and  was  very  careful  in  his  pulpit  preparations.  He 
read  all  his  sermons,  and  yet  not  very  closely,  but 
his  elocution  was  good,  and  his  composition  so  cor- 
rect that  he  was  listened  to  with  great  attention  and 


l6o  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

profit.  He  was  the  writer  of  several  popular  books, 
which  were  widely  circulated.  His  distinguished 
son,  Charles  A.  Stork,  who  had  been  his  assistant 
for  some  time  before,  succeeded  him,  and  achieved 
by  his  talents  and  attainments  a  place  among  the 
very  highest  in  our  ministry.  He  accepted  the 
position  of  Professor  of  Theology  in  the  Seminary 
at  Gettysburg,  and  was  as  eminently  successful  as  a 
teacher  as  he  was  as  a  preacher  and  writer.  His 
early  death  was  lamented  by  all,  and  I  think  there 
were  more  extended  newspaper  notices  and  bio- 
graphical sketches  and  reminiscences  written  of  him 
than  of  any  other  of  our  ministers  who  have  died. 
He  was  a  universal  favorite  wherever  he  was  known, 
and  he  left  a  void  which  it  will  be  hard  to  fill  up. 

The  Rev.  Charles  S.  Albert,  D.  D.,  was  elected  his 
successor,  and  after  a  most  prosperous  ministry  of  1 3 
years,  he  was  followed  by  the  present  worthy  pastor, 
Rev.  W.  H.  Dunbar,  D.  D. 

St.  Paul's  church  was  dedicated  in  1873,  and  the 
first  pastor  took  charge  of  it  in  November  of  the 
same  year.  This  was  the  Rev.  J.  A.  Clutz,  D.  D., 
who  after  faithfully  serving  it  about  ten  years  re- 
signed, to  assume  the  office  of  Home  Mission  Secre- 
tary, for  which  his  good  business  qualities  fitted  him 
so  well.  He  was  succeeded  by  the  Rev.  E.  Felton, 
whose  successor  was  the  Rev.  W.  P.  Evans,  who 
left  us  for  the  Episcopal  church  after  a  four  years' 
service  at  the  church.  The  Rev.  Chas.  R.  Trow- 
bridge followed  him  as  pastor. 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  x6l 

Other  English  Lutheran  congregations  have  been 
organized  here  in  the  last  fifteen  years,  as  follows: 
St.  Luke's,  Grace,  Christ,  Church  of  the  Reforma- 
tion, Messiah,  Trinity,  and  Calvary. 

If  I  were  not  speaking  here  exclusively  of  English 
preachers  I  would  like  to  say  a  great  deal  of  that 
meretorious  servant  of  God,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Heyer, 
who  labored  most  successfully  in  building  up  our 
German  interest  in  Baltimore. 

The  first  man  who  tried  to  establish  a  mission 
here  was  the  Rev.  Dr.  Gustiniani,  who  was  form- 
erly an  Italian  priest,  had  lived  in  Australia  as  a  sort 
of  missionary,  thence  went  to  England  and  got 
among  the  Wesleyans,  and  I  believe  came  over  here 
and  joined  our  Synod.  He  wrote  a  book  at  my  sug- 
gestion, and  I  named  it  "  Papal  Rome,  as  it  is,"  by 
a  Roman.  This  was  in  1833.  He  was  a  man  of 
fair  education  and  undoubted  Christian  character. 
His  ways  were  somewhat  eccentric,  and  his  church 
views  not  the  most  correct.  It  mattered  not  to  him 
where  he  belonged,  and  he  assumed  all  sorts  of 
church  liberties  without  any  regard  to  synodical  re- 
strictions.    He  died  in  Cincinnati  some  years  after. 

A  little  congregation  at  Canton  was  in  early  years 
organized  by  the  Rev.  C.  P.  Krauth,  who  remained 
six  months,  and  then  went  to  the  Second  church, 
as  already  mentioned.  Then  came  the  Rev.  W.  A. 
Passavant,  who  continued  about  six  months,  and 
then  took  charge  of  the  Third  church.  He  was 
followed  by  the  Rev.  A.  J.  Weddell. 
11 


1 62  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

SCRAP-BOOK    COLLECTIONS. 

For  many  years  I  have  been  in  the  habit  of  past- 
ing most  of  my  newspaper  contributions  in  a  scrap- 
book,  of  which  I  now  have  six  large  4to.  volumes. 
I  have  found  this  plan  very  convenient.  It  is  amus- 
ing, and  often  mortifying  also,  to  leaf  over  this  rudis 
indigesta  que  mo/es,  which  frequently  brings  up  the 
saying  of  the  Persian  poet :  ' '  The  remembrance  of 
youth  is  a  sigh. ' ' 

Several  series  of  articles  were  written,  which  I 
will  mention  here,  and  omit  in  the  list  of  my  writ- 
ings at  the  end  of  this  book. 

"Eight  Days  in  the  Alps,"  in  which  an  Alpine 
tour,  in  all  its  lofty  enjoyments,  hairbreadth  escapes, 
perilous  stumblings,  bone-cracking  tumbles,  and 
numerous  other  queer  adventures  are  faithfully  por- 
trayed.    These  appeared  in  the  Observer  of  1846-7. 

' '  The  Confessions  of  a  Beneficiary  ' '  recited  the 
privations,  discouragements  and  final  triumphs  of 
an  imaginary  character,  but  everything  was  true  in 
its  particulars.  The  articles  were  not  imputed  to 
me  at  first,  so  real  did  I  draw  the  picture ;  they  re- 
flected somewhat  unfavorably  on  the  condition  of 
things  in  the  Seminary,  so  that  Prof.  Schmucker 
felt  constrained  to  deny  that  any  young  man  who 
had  begun  active  life  "  as  apprentice  to  a  house- 
painter,  had  ever  been  a  student  under  his  care. ' '  I 
was  amused  at  his  fruitless  attempts  to  find  out  the 
author,  for  he  took  every  word  as  historically  true, 
and  made  no  allowance  for  ideal  word-painting  or 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  163 

fiction  founded  on  truth.  I  was  gratified  also  that 
some  reforms  in  the  Seminary  were  the  result  of 
these  * '  Confessions. ' '  They  appeared  about  the 
year  1836. 

A  series  running  through  many  weeks,  entitled 
"The  Country  Parson,"  "The  Country  Parson's 
Wife,"  and  "The  Country  Parson's  Daughter," 
attracted  the  general  attention  of  the  Observer  read- 
ers of  that  day  (1833-1834).  They  described  char- 
acters, manners,  experiences,  and  things  generally. 
My  description  of  an  imaginary  country  schoolmas- 
ter, who  frequently  annoyed  his  minister  by  his  un- 
welcome presence,  was  so  true  to  nature  that  a  man 
answering  the  description  called  upon  his  minister, 
and  censured  him  severely  for  exposing  him  to  the 
church.  The  minister  replied  that  he  was  not  the 
author  of  the  article.  ' '  Well,  then, ' '  said  the  cul- 
prit, ' '  you  must  have  told  that  Observer  writer  all 
about  me,  foi  nobody  knows  it  but  you!"  The  pas- 
tor protested,  but  the  man  went  away  unconvinced. 
Some  years  afterwards  the  minister  told  me  this 
story  himself.  It  was  that  thoroughly -re  ad  theo- 
logian and  professor,  the  Rev.  C.  F.  Schaerfer,  D.  D. 

"  Letters  from  a  Garret  "  were  continued  several 
years,  and  excited  considerable  interest.  In  them 
everything  of  importance  occurring  in  the  Church, 
including  some  tales  and  other  fancy  sketches,  was 
treated.  Many  letters  relating  to  them  were  re- 
ceived, and  every  encouragement  given  to  continue 
them.     Giving  of  offence  was  carefully  avoided,  and 


164  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

yet  some  sensitive  and  suspicions  persons  thought 
they  were  alluded  to,  when  in  reality  they  were  either 
unknown  or  their  cases  were  entirely  out  of  mind. 
During  the  publication  of  these  articles  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Cuyler,  of  Brooklyn,  delivered  a  lecture  at  Gettys- 
burg, in  which  he  mentioned  Mr.  Garrett,  President 
of  the  B.  and  O.  Railroad.  The  simple-minded 
students  thought  he  was  alluding  to  my  Letters,  and 
raised  a  yell,  which  annoyed  the  orator,  for  he  knew 
nothing  of  these  Letters. 

' '  Old  Pictures  Cleaned  ' '  was  the  title  of  a  series, 
in  which  some  facts  relating  to  the  Reformation  not 
generally  found  in  the  popular  books,  and  other  ob- 
scure historical  events,  were  illustrated.  They  in- 
cluded also  some  incidents  of  travel,  which  had  been 
omitted  from  other  communications. 

"  Over  Sea  Recollections  "  recounted  the  tales  of 
a  traveler,  in  which  were  grouped  many  facts  of  in- 
terest, and  which  at  that  period  (1848)  were  received 
with  general  favor. 

"  Stray  Leaves  from  my  Journal  "  embrace 
sketches  of  tours  made  to  Ohio  in  1839.  This  was 
before  the  existence  of  railroads  generally,  and 
canal  and  stage  coach  travel  are  set  forth  in  true 
colors. 

11  Loose  Leaves  from  my  Journal  "(1847),  "  Pick- 
ings from  a  Waste-Basket  "  (1875),  "  Chips  Picked 
up  by  the  Wayside,"  "Letters  from  Baltimore," 
"Recreations  of  Luther,"  "  Lutherana,"  "The 
Note-Book  of   a  Naturalist, "   "  Insecto-Theology, ' ' 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  165 

"The  Necessity  of  the  Reformation,"  "Scenes 
from  the  Youth  of  Spener,"  "Myrtle  from  our 
Fathers'  Graves,"  "The  Last  Days  and  Burial  of 
Luther,"  all  of  which  were  lengthened  out  in  many 
numbers,  appeared  in  the  Observer  and  other  church 
papers,  besides  a  large  number  of  single  or  detached 
communications  on  an  infinite  variety  of  subjects.  I 
also  furnished  a  large  number  of  communications 
concerning  Luther  for  Our  Church  Paper,  published 
by  the  Henkels,  of  New  Market,  Va.  They  reached 
through  several  years,  and  they  were  always  grate- 
fully accepted  by  those  enterprising  men,  who  in- 
formed me  that  their  subscribers  read  them  with 
pleasure  and  profit.* 

I  was  frequently  attacked,  and  in  a  few  instances 
with  unprovoked  severity,  strongly  sprinkled  with 
malevolence,  all  of  which  the  Observer  of  1 840-1 850 
published.  The  most  bitter  and  wicked  personal 
thrusts  were  aimed  at  me.  I  never  condescended  to 
reply  to  these  vulgar  assaults,  although  on  one  occa- 
sion friends  of  mine  did  vindicate  me  against  an 
accusation  which  the  author  of  it  knew  to  be  untrue. 

The  controversies  in  the  Church  were  carefully 
avoided,  and  very  few  of  my  articles  treated  very 
demonstratively  of  the  points  in  dispute  among  us. 
I  uttered  my  Lutheran  sentiments  very  freely,  but 
I  never  had  a  theological  discussion  with  any  one 
in  the  papers. 

*The  Workman  and  the  Lutheran  World  also  contained 
many  interesting  and  instructive  letters  and  communications 
from  the  pen  of  Dr.  Morris.  C.  R.  T. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

SCIENTIFIC  STUDIES  AND  OFFICES. 

Whatever  I  may  have  done,  like  other  boys,  in 
collecting  insects,  plants,  minerals  and  other  ' '  curi- 
osities, ' '  it  amounted  to  nothing  practical  or  useful. 
I  had  no  one  to  guide  me,  and  there  were  no  popular 
or  elementary  books  on  natural  history  to  instruct 
me.  Somewhere  about  my  fourteenth  year  I  had 
pretty  well  mastered  the  preface  of  Goldsmith's 
"  Animated  Nature,"  which  at  that  time  was  con- 
sidered a  great  book.  I  learned  the  construction  of 
an  electrical  machine,  with  which  I  performed  many 
common  experiments.  Thus  for  years  I  amused 
myself  with  such  books  and  collected  materials  as  I 
could  lay  hands  upon,  but  understanding  nothmg 
about  them  I  laid  them  aside  for  something  more 
exciting. 

It  was  not  until  after  I  had  entered  the  ministry 
that  I  really  began  to  study  science,  and  I  here  de- 
sire to  record  my  sincere  conviction  that,  under  God, 
my  uninterrupted  good  health  for  many  years  is 
owing,  in  a  great  measure,  to  my  pursuits  of  this 
character.  My  frequent  ramblings  in  the  fields  and 
woods  in  search  of  objects,  my  researches  upon  the 
(166)    ' 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  1 67 

banks  of  streams  and  in  the  water,  my  exertions  in 
climbing  trees,  ascending  hills,  beating  bushes, 
sweeping  the  grass  with  the  insect  net,  turning 
stones  and  logs,  all  contributing  to  the  exercise  of 
the  muscles,  the  expansion  of  the  chest,  and  to 
mental  and  bodily  recreation,  the  agreeable  inter- 
change of  lighter  and  severer  studies,  all  aided  in 
giving  me  a  physical  constitution  which  to  this  day 
has  never  been  assailed  by  severe  sickness  of  twenty- 
four  hours'  duration.  Only  once,  or  perhaps  twice, 
in  a  life  of  fifty  years  in  the  ministry,  have  I  been 
kept  out  of  the  pulpit  by  sickness,  and  then  I  was 
able  to  preach,  but  the  doctor  advised  me  to  stay  at 
home,  especially  as  I  had  a  good  substitute. 

It  would  be  better  for  many  a  dyspeptic,  weak- 
lunged,  bronchitic,  ''delicate"  minister  if  he  had 
even  a  moderate  taste  for  some  science  which  com- 
pelled him  to  go  out  of  doors!  True,  there  is  a  pop- 
ular prejudice  against  a  minister  giving  much  time 
to  such  studies,  but  I  have  always  seemingly  satisfied 
some  of  my  kind  friends  who  with  grave  counte- 
nances would  impart  a  tender  caution,  by  replying 
that  my  sermons  were  always  the  better  after  my 
long  wanderings  in  the  fields  on  Saturday  afternoons. 

Throughout  all  my  clerical  life  I  had  my  work  for 
Sunday  finished  by  Saturday  noon,  so  that  I  had  the 
afternoon  and  night  to  myself.  I  was  never  caught 
working  at  my  sermons  late  on  Saturday  night,  nor 
writing  the  last  amen  when  the  church  bells  were 
ringing  on  Sunday  morning.     I  «once  stated  this  fact 


1 68  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

to  a  Presbyterian,  who  was  much  older  than  I,  and 
he  vowed  he  would  adopt  the  good  practice. 

Entomology  was  my  principal  study,  but  to  pursue 
this  to  scientific  advantage  a  knowledge  of  the  food 
plants  of  insects  is  necessary,  hence  botany  comes  in 
naturally.  I  made  large  collections  in  both  depart- 
ments, and  every  species  was  correctly  and  systemat- 
ically arranged  and  labeled,  by  the  help  of  my  books 
or  by  fellow  naturalists.  And  lest  I  might  forget  it 
I  will  here  state  a  little  incident,  interesting  in  more 
than  one  relation.  When  I  was  at  Charleston,  at- 
tending the  General  Synod,  in  1850,  I  saw,  in  Dr. 
Bachman's  study,  an  immense  herbarium,  consisting 
of  many  thick  folio  volumes,  and  upon  expressing 
an  interest  in  them,  especially  after  having  been  told 
that  many  of  them  had  formerly  belonged  to  Elliot, 
from  which  he  had  written  his  Southern  Botany,  the 
good  Doctor  intimated  that  he  felt  disposed  to  give 
them  to  any  man  who  he  was  sure  would  take  good 
care  of  them.  I  jumped  at  the  offer ;  Mrs.  Bachman 
seconded  the  proposition,  and  apprehending  that 
some  change  might  take  place  in  their  minds,  I  went 
out  immediately  and  bought  two  large  ' '  store 
boxes, ' '  and  hired  a  man  to  pack  them  up,  and  be- 
fore night  I  had  them  on  the  wharf  ready  for  the 
next  packet  to  Baltimore !  This  was  a  rich  treasure, 
for  it  contains  many  of  Elliot's  original  labels  and 
of  Dr.  Bachman's  also.  On  one  specimen  of  the 
"  Poison  Oak  "  is  written,  in  the  Doctor's  own  dis- 
tinct chirography,  "  This  specimen  was  once  near 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  169 

putting  an  end  to  my  botanical  studies,  for  it  pois- 
oned me  to  a  very  dangerous  degree. ' '  Strange  to 
say,  I  was  never  affected  by  this  plant,  and  yet  some 
persons  cannot  go  near  it  with  impunity.  None  but 
an  enthusiastic  naturalist  can  appreciate  such  an 
apparently  small  affair  as  this  which  Dr.  Bachman 
relates  of  himself. 

The  duplicate  specimens  in  this  herbarium  were 
so  numerous  that  I  was  able  to  make  several  good 
collections  of  Southern  plants,  which  I  sent  to  my 
botanical  friends  in  Europe  and  to  one  in  this 
country. 

Many  of  the  great  books  on  these  two  branches 
were  bought  by  me,  and  others  too  costly  for  my 
purse  were  consulted  in  other  libraries. 

General  zoology  also  engaged  my  attention,  and  I 
had  respectable  collections  of  birds,  the  more  com- 
mon reptiles,  large  numbers  of  our  land  and  fresh 
water  shells,  as  well  as  marine,  and  some  fishes. 
The  best  books  on  these  subjects  were  also  studied. 

In  several  of  these  departments  I  had  for  many 
years  the  valuable  co-operation  of  Dr.  Melsheimer, 
of  York  county,  Pa.,  of  the  Rev.  D.  Ziegler,  of  the 
German  Reformed  church,  and  of  Prof.  S.  S.  Halde- 
man,  who  has  since  abandoned  natural  histoty,  and 
has  become  so  eminent  a  philologist,*  and  many 
other  naturalists  with  whom  I  became  acquainted. 

*  Haldeman  died  in  1880.  I  gave  a  brief  sketch  of  his  scien- 
tific career  in  an  address  which  I  delivered  as  Presideut  of  the 
Entomological  Section  of  the  A.  A.  A.  S.  at  the  meeting  in 
Cincinnati  in  1881. 


170  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

I  carried  on  for  a  long  time  a  system  of  exchanges 
and  correspondence  with  naturalists  in  our  own 
country,  and  with  Profs.  Burmeister  and  Germar, 
of  Halle;  Erichson,  Klug  and  Troschel,  of  Berlin; 
Mr.  Riehl,  of  Cassel;  the  Sturms,  of  Nurnberg; 
Dr.  Von  dem  Busch  and  Wilkens,  of  Bremen;  Mr. 
Doubleday,  of  the  British  Museum,  and  others  in 
England.  These  studies  qualified  me  to  some  ex- 
tent to  give  public  lectures  on  the  subject,  which  I 
have  already  spoken  of,  and  which  also  led  to  my 
election  as  Lecturer  on  Natural  History  in  the  Uni- 
versity of  Maryland,  where  I  never  performed  any 
service,  and  to  a  similar  position  in  Pennsylvania 
College,  where  I  gave  short  courses  at  various  times. 
The  difficulty  in  giving  even  a  tolerably  full  course 
in  the  college  is  that  there  is  no  special  provision 
made  for  an  additional  teacher  on  the  subject,  and 
the  interruption  to  the  regular  curriculum  which  the 
introduction  of  extra  lectures  would  occasion. 

My  numerous  letters  from  the  gentlemen  men- 
tioned above,  and  from  other  naturalists,  form  a  val- 
uable collection. 

In  the  Seminary  it  is  otherwise.  I  am  paid  for  my 
services  there,  and  for  some  years  I  have  given  an- 
nual series  on  "The  Connection  between  Revelation 
and  Science  ' '  to  the  Senior  class,  and  also  several 
times  a  pretty  full  course  on  "The  Natural  History 
of  the  Bible." 

In  the  winter  of  18 78-1879  I  attended  a  course  of 
fifteen  lectures  on  Biology  in  Johns   Hopkins   Uni- 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  171 

versity.  Every  Saturday  we  had  a  lecture  of  an 
hour  by  Prof.  Brooks,  and  immediately  after  three 
hours  of  work  in  the  laboratory.  These  lectures 
were  very  instructive,  and  furnished  me  the  most 
wholesome  recreation. 

My  scientific  studies,  of  course,  brought  me  early 
into  the  acquaintance,   correspondence  and  society 
of  men  of  similar  pursuits,  both  in  this  country  and 
in  Europe.     I  joined  the  American  Association  for 
the  Advancement  of  Science,  and  have  been  absent 
very  seldom  from  the   annual   meetings.     I   there 
met   many   of    the    most    distinguished    American 
savans,  with  some  of  whom  I  have  been  on  intimate 
terms  for  many  years,  such  as  Profs.  Henry,  Baird, 
Coues,  Newcomb,  Haldeman,   Scudder,  Riley,  Silli- 
man,  Hagen,  Baron  Ostensacken,  Le  Conte,   Horn, 
Lintner,  Orde,   Bethune,   Saunders,   Comstock,  and 
many  others  in  every  department  of  science.     Be- 
sides these,  and  many  other  members  of  the  Associ- 
ation, there  were  many  naturalists,  especially  ento- 
mologists, with  whom  I  had  frequent  correspondence 
and    personal    interview.     I  particularly   desire   to 
mention  Herman  Strecker,  of  Reading,  Pa.,  who  is 
professionally  a  journeyman  marble-worker,  but  is 
also  an  artist  of  high  merit  in  drawing,  engraving 
and  coloring  butterflies  in  a  style  of  beauty  and  cor- 
rectness which  demands  the  admiration  of  all  men 
of  taste.     By  extensive  and  long- continued  exchanges 
with  naturalists  in  all  parts  of   the  world,  he  has 
brought  together  the  largest  collection  of  butterflies 


172  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

in  this  country,  and  which  is  exceeded  by  few  private 
collections  in  the  world.  He  has  also  described 
numerous  new  species,  which  have  been  adopted  by 
other  naturalists.  He  is  a  queer  genius,  and  like  all 
men  of  that  character,  does  not  receive  the  ardent  ad- 
miration of  every  one ;  but  all  must  acknowledge  his 
uncommon  artistic  skill,  perseverance  and  success. 

Students  of  natural  history,  especially  those  who 
are  also  known  to  be  field  collectors,  often  receive 
valuable  aid  from  other  persons,  who  occasionally 
find  something  that  is  new  and  interesting  to  them. 
They  kindly  send  or  bring  an  insect,  reptile,  fish, 
bird,  and  sometimes  a  mineral  or  a  -flower,  to  ascer- 
tain what  it  is,  or  to  do  a  favor  to  the  naturalist, 
which  is  all  very  kind.  Of  course  some  things  are 
now  and  then  brought  which  are  very  common,  but 
still  unknown  to  the  generous  giver.  But  the  re- 
ceiver should  express  his  thanks,  for  if  he  were  to 
treat  the  gift  indifferently  he  would  not  be  likely  to 
receive  anything  more  from  that  quarter. 

Strange  facts  are  often  referred  to  him  for  expla- 
nation, and  many  letters  of  inquiry  are  received, 
even  from  a  distance.  Once  I  got  a  letter  from 
Ohio,  containing  an  uncommon  spider,  of  which  the 
obliging  correspondent  wanted  to  know  everything, 
and  fortunately,  with  the  aid  of  my  spider  books,  I 
was  able  to  satisfy  him.  Numerous  similar  inquiries 
are  often  made,  or  queer  facts  are  communicated, 
and  it  is  gratifying  to  be  able  to  impart  informa- 
tion, explain  difficulties,  correct  errors,  and  encour- 
age further  researches. 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  173 

In  addition  to  this  fascinating  science  1  also  paid 
considerable  attention  to  microscopy,  which  afforded 
me  much  gratification.  I  have  numerous  figures  of 
animalcules,  zoophytes,  and  other  objects,  which  I 
drew  from  the  slides  under  the  instrument. 

Many  years  ago  a  French  naturalist,  Count  Castle- 
nau,  deposited  in  what  was  known,  at  that  time,  as 
the  National  Institution,  at  Washington,  an  immense 
collection  of  beetles,  rilling  over  one  hundred  boxes. 
They  had  been  neglected,  and  were  fast  going  to  ruin. 
Joseph  K.  Townsend,  the  ornithologist,  who  was  at 
that  time  a  clerk  nominally  in  one  of  the  depart- 
ments, but  really  the  working  naturalist  of  the  Na- 
tional Institution,  engaged  me  to  go  to  Washington 
to  overhaul  this  collection,  and  if  possible  to  pre- 
serve it  from  total  destruction.  I  accepted  the  offer, 
and  my  compensation  was  the  privilege  of  keeping 
specimens  of  the  duplicates.  The  boxes  were  re- 
moved to  Townsend's  house,  his  family  being  absent 
for  the  summer,  where  I  labored  laboriously  for  five 
or  six  days  during  a  severe  spell  of  hot  weather.  I 
put  the  collection  into  fairly  good  order,  and  thor- 
oughly cleansed  all  the  boxes.  I  was  satisfied  with 
my  compensation,  for  my  own  collection  was  consid- 
erably enriched.  I  do  not  know  what  has  become 
of  the  Castlenau  collection,  but  I  presume  it  has 
been  suffered  to  go  to  ruin.  It  was  subsequently 
transferred  to  the  Smithsonian,  but  it  is  doubtful  if 
any  portion  of  it  is  now  in  existence.  Townsend 
was  an  enterprising  naturalist,  and  crossed  the  Rocky 


174  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

Mountains  with  Nuttall,  the  botanist,  long  before  the 
discovery  of  gold  in  California.  It  was  a  laborious 
and  dangerous  tour.  He  wrote  a  very  clever  book 
on  the  natural  history  of  that  country,  in  which  he 
also  describes  the  perilous  adventures  of  the  long 
journey.  From  the  Pacific  coast  the  two  travelers 
sailed  for  the  Sandwich  Islands  in  pursuit  of  plants, 
birds,  and  other  objects.  Among  many  other  inter- 
esting incidents  which  he  related  to  me  I  will  relate 
the  following: 

An  American  missionary  kindly  entertained  them, 
and  did  all  in  his  power  to  promote  their  scientific 
pursuits.  On  Sunday  morning  Townsend,  who  was 
no  strict  observer  of  that  day,  tried  to  steal  away 
from  the  house,  gun  in  hand,  after  Sandwich  Island 
birds.  To  his  deep  mortification  the  good  missionary 
observed  him,  and  remarked  ' '  Wait  a  moment  and 
I'll  go  with  you."  "  What!"  said  Townsend,  "  do 
you  go  hunting  on  Sunday? "  "  This  is  not  Sunday, ' ' 
replied  he,  "  it  is  Monday. ' '  And  so  it  was.  Town- 
send  in  crossing  the  continent  had  lost  a  day,  and 
the  missionary  in  going  around  Cape  Korn  had 
gained  a  day,  and  this  accounted  for  the  difference. 
Townsend  was  glad  that  with  a  good  conscience  he 
could  now  go  hunting  on  that  day,  and  that  he  nad 
the  missionary  for  a  companion.  I  have  often  told 
this  story,  and  yet  there  are  a  good  many  otherwise 
sensible  people  who  cannot  understand  how  it  could 
possibly  be  that  the  day  should  be  Sunday  to  one  of 
them  and  Monday  to  the  other. 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  1 75 

Thus  for  many  years  I  pursued  these  studies  as  an 
amateur,  and  acquired  by  exchange  or  purchase  a 
fair  collection  of  insects.  At  first  I  confined  myself 
to  Coleoptera  (Beetles),  but  exchanged  them  for 
Lepidoptera  (Butterflies),  to  which  order  I  have 
confined  my  studies. 

I  have  already  mentioned  that  I  was  honored  by 
the  Smithsonian  Insitute  publishing  two  of  my 
books ;  one  was  ' '  A  Synopsis  of  the  Lepidoptera  of 
the  United  States,"  8vo.,  which  was  much  sought 
after  by  young  entomologists,  who  used  it  to  name 
their  butterflies,  and  which  was  highly  spoken  of  by 
some  French,  English  and  German  journals.  The 
other  was  ' '  A  Catalogue  of  the  Described  Lepidop- 
tera of  the  United  States."  The  list  of  my  publica- 
tions, given  in  the  following  pages,  contains  other 
minor  writings  of  mine  on  this  subject. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

RESIGNATION   AS   PASTOR;   LIBRARIAN   OF   THE  PEABODY 
INSTITUTE. 

After  a  service  of  33  years  in  the  church  in  Lex- 
ington street,  I  had  a  good  opportunity  of  resigning 
without  compulsion  or  from  exhaustion.  I  offered 
myself  as  a  candidate  for  the  position  of  Librarian 
in  the  Peabody  Institute,  and  was  elected.  It  was 
necessary  that  1  should  resign  my  pastorship,  and 
this  was  a  struggle.  I  had  served  that  church  33 
years,  having  built  it  up  from  the  beginning,  en- 
larged the  house  of  worship  several  times,  sent  off 
two  colonies,  built  the  parsonage,  paid  off  a  large 
portion  of  the  debt,  and  left  everything  in  a  pros- 
perous condition.  I  was  not  compelled  to  go,  nor 
did  the  people  desire  it,  at  least  there  were  no  out- 
ward evidences  of  it.  I  reasoned  thus :  "  If  I  do  not 
leave  now  and  accept  this  respectable  place,  so  well 
suited  to  my  tastes,  I  may  never  have  a  better  op- 
portunity of  bettering  my  condition.  If  I  stay  here 
much  longer  I  will  be  considered  too  old  to  be  called 
to  any  other  church,  and  my  own  people  will  get 
tired  of  me  and  give  me  unmistakable  evidences 
that  I  had  better  leave.     Worn  out  among  them, 

(176) 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  177 

and  no  longer . a  young  man  whom  any  other  church 
would  want  (for  few  men  over  fifty  receive  calls), 
had  I  not  better  quietly  withdraw  and  give  the 
church  an  opportunity  of  securing  another  man?"  I 
consulted  judicious  men,  in  and  out  of  my  church, 
and  they  sanctioned  my  course.  Many  persons 
afterwards  told  me  that  it  was  a  proper  step,  and 
thought  I  was  the  proper  man  to  fill  the  place.  The 
church  had  never  supported  me,  and  the  deficiency 
was  made  up  from  my  own  private  income  to  an 
amount  of  upwards  of  $15,000,  at  a  low  calculation. 
I  thought  I  could  get  along  on  a  smaller  salary,  for 
the  Peabody  gave  me  only  $1,500,  whereas  the 
church  gave  me  $1,500  and  the  parsonage.  Not 
being  a  pastor,  I  would  not  have  so  many  expenses. 

Some  persons  found  fault  with  me  because  they 
thought  I  was  going  to  abandon  the  pulpit  altogether 
for  a  secular  office,  but  they  were  mistaken.  I  never 
intended  to  do  that — I  would  rather  have  given  up 
everything  else.  I  was  consecrated  to  the  pulpit. 
I  might  for  a  season  cease  to  be  pastor,  but  never 
for  a  day  to  be  preacher.  Expediency  might  suggest 
the  former,  but  necessity  only  the  latter.  My  own 
conscience  justified  me,  and  I  had  the  sanction  of 
one  whose  opinion  on  such  a  subject  I  valued  more 
highly  than  that  of  any  other  person  living.  My 
brother  also  sanctioned  it,  and  my  mind  was  at  ease. 

I  left  the  parsonage  in  July,  i860,  and  bought  the 
house  on  Greene  street,  where  we  have  since  resided 
in   the   winter.       I   preached  no   farewell   sermon. 


I78  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

Immediately  after  Rev.  McCron  was  elected  in  my 
place,  by  those  who  remained  after  about  100  of  the 
congregation  withdrew  and  organized  the  congrega- 
tion on  Eutaw  street  under  the  pastoral  care  of  Rev. 
Dr.  Stork. 

Monument  Street  church,  which  was  originally  an 
offshoot  from  the  First  church,  was  then  vacant,  and  I 
preached  there  every  Sunday  for  a  whole  year.  Sev- 
eral years  afterwards  I  was  elected  temporary  pastor 
of  that  church.  I  never  lived  in  Old  Town,  not 
wishing  to  change  my  comfortable  home  in  Greene 
street  for  the  narrow  and  inconvenient  parsonage  on 
Monument  street,  and  then  again  I  did  not  expect 
to  stay  long  with  that  people.  I  spent  much  time 
among  them,  and  occupied  the  study  in  the  church. 
Most  of  them  treated  me  kindly,  and  my  services 
among  them  are  gratefully  remembered  to  this  day. 
They  were,  in  general,  a  plain,  sincere  people,  who 
never  gave  me  more  trouble  than  usually  falls  to  the 
lot  of  most  ministers,  and  many  of  them  were  greatly 
profited  by  my  instructions.  The  majority  had  very 
vague  theological,  and  some  of  them  fanatical  notions 
and  very  loose  ideas  of  true  Lutheranism. 

During  my  pastorate  the  house  of  worship  was 
enlarged  and  beautified,  but  I  continued  preaching 
every  Sunday  morning  for  several  summer  months, 
although  the  whole  rear  end  was  knocked  out,  and 
the  scaffolds  were  standing  in  the  body  of  the  house. 
I  did  not  leave  my  summer  home,  and  I  thought  it 
just  as  well  to  come    in  on    Sunday  morning   and 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  1 79 

preach  to  the  few  hundred  who  attended.  My 
reminiscences  of  that  church  are  on  the  whole 
pleasant. 

While  pastor  in  Old  Town  I  collected  nearly 
$1,200  to  build  a  chapel  on  the  Bel  Air  road,  near 
the  city,  at  a  place  called  San  Domingo.  There  are 
two  or  three  breweries  there,  and  the  population  by 
no  means  inclined  churchwards.  We  held  Sunday- 
school  there  for  some  years,  and  tried  to  gather  in 
the  people  by  preaching,  but  the  lager  beer  interest 
was  too  strong,  and  the  enterprise  was  abandoned 
after  my  resignation  and  the  property  was  sold.  I 
remember  that  the  proprietress  of  the  largest  saloon 
offered  us  the  use  of  a  large  upper  hall  for  a  Sunday- 
school  anniversary,  and  in  order  to  reach  it  we  were 
compelled  to  pass  through  a  large  place  that  was 
crowded  with  beer-drinkers  on  Sunday  afternoon,  so 
that  they  were  talking  loud,  laughing  and  jingling 
their  glasses  while  we  were  singing  and  praying  up 
stairs,  and  all  the  doors  open.  We  never  could 
awaken  any  interest  in  our  work  among  the  people 
there.  Some  of  them  would  not  even  send  their 
children  to  Sunday-school,  and  it  was  a  queer  excuse 
for  the  absence  of  the  few  who  did  attend  that  they 
sometimes  gave,  that  they  had  to  stay  at  home  to 
help  in  the  bar! 

After  my  resignation,  in  1866,  they  elected  a  man, 
against  my  remonstrance,  who,  by  his  extravagance 
of  demeanor,  almost  ruined  the  church.  They  were 
perfectly  infatuated,  but  paid  dearly  for  their  error. 


l8o  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

He  was  expelled  from  our  Synod  in  1876,  and  this 
congregation  was  in  a  deplorable  condition.  They 
then  called  on  me  to  again  take  the  oversight  of 
them,  which  I  consented  to  do  until  they  would  elect 
a  man  permanently,  which  they  did  in  a  few  months 
afterwards.  My  last  Sunday  with  them  was  Janu- 
ary 19,  1877. 

A  few  years  before  this,  that  is,  in  1874,  the  Rev. 
C.  A.  Stork,  D.  D.,  went  abroad,  and  I  agreed  to  be 
his  substitute  during  his  absence.  I  began  October 
4,  1874,  and  concluded  in  July,  1875,  when  he  re- 
turned. During  his  absence  the  General  Synod  of 
1875  was  held  in  that  church  (St.  Mark's). 

In  January,  1879,  the  Rev-.  Mr.  Dimm,  the  princi- 
pal of  Lutherville  School,  and  pastor  of  the  village 
church,  resigned  the  latter  position,  and  as  there 
was  no  one  else  who  could  take  charge  of  it  on  ac- 
count of  the  small  salary,  I  assumed  the  care  of  it. 
I  agreed  to  preach  but  once  on  Sunday,  and  I  con- 
tinued this  service  to  July  6,  1885. 

MY    LIBRARIANSHIP    IN    THE    PEABODY    INSTITUTE. 

It  is  well  known  to  persons  acquainted  with  the 
history  of  this  grand  institution  that  Mr.  Peabody, 
besides  appointing  twenty-eight  men  as  Trustees, 
designated  two  hundred  and  fifty  others,  from  whom 
vacancies  in  the  Board  were  to  be  filled. 

My  name  was  on  this  latter  list,  and  I  was  the  first 
man  elected  as  a  Trustee  to  fill  a  vacancy,  which 
was  occasioned  by  the  death  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Burnap. 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  l8l 

I  was  much  surprised  and  gratified  by  this  mark 
of  distinction,  for  there  were  many  older  and  more 
influential  men  from  whom  a  selection  might  have 
been  made.  Besides,  I  was  not  personally  ac- 
quainted with  most  of  the  Trustees,  and  not  on  inti- 
mate terms  with  those  whom  I  did  know.  I  accepted 
the  position,  and  attended  several  meetings  of  the 
Board  before  I  resigned  my  church  to  assume  the 
responsible  office  of  librarian.  At  this  time  the  in- 
stitution was  not  in  active  operation;  the  building 
was  not  finished,  and  no  books  had  been  bought. 
The  Trustees,  however,  concluded  to  elect  a  librar- 
ian, and  after  long  deliberation  I  concluded  to  offer 
myself  as  a  candidate,  not,  however,  before  I  was 
certain  that  I  would  be  chosen.  I  had  assurances 
from  a  sufficient  number  that  they  would  vote  for 
me,  and  I  gave  in  my  name.  There  were  four  other 
candidates,  but  I  received  all  the  votes  except  a  few. 
My  chief  competitor  was  John  R.  Thompson,  the 
poet  and  editor.  The  salary  was  $1,500  a  year, 
which  was  less  than  I  received  from  my  church,  for 
there  I  had  the  same  amount  and  a  free  parsonage, 
which  was  equal  to  $500  more.  I  had  paid  some 
attention  to  bibliography,  and  had  become  pretty 
well  acquainted  with  books  which  were  suited  to  a 
first-class  reference  library.  I  was  elected  on  June 
1,  i860,  and  entered  upon  my  duties  August  1,  i860. 
For  some  weeks  I  was  diligently  engaged  in  prepar- 
ing rules  for  the  government  of  the  library,  the 
modes  and  places  of  purchasing  books,  and  making 


1 82  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

out  lists  of  works  to  be  bought.  This  list  comprised 
50,000  volumes,  and  the  Trustees  appropriated  $500 
for  its  publication  in  an  8vo.  volume.  This  was  the 
basis  of  purchases  for  some  years. 

In  making  this  list  I  consulted  the  best  English 
and  American  catalogues,  and  in  studying  library 
economy  I  had  access  to  all  the  great  works  on  that 
subject  in  English,  French  and  German. 

During  my  three  years'  service  I  spent  over  $30,- 
000  for  books,  keeping  up  a  constant  correspondence 
with  European  and  American  dealers.  I  went  to 
Boston  and  New  York  several  times  to  make  pur- 
chases, but  especially  to  examine  the  libraries  and 
to  study  their  modes  of  management.  I  wrote 
voluminous  reports  for  my  Library  Committee  on 
systematic  arrangement,  cataloguing  and  preserva- 
tion of  books. 

I  had  numerous  applications  from  ladies  and  gen- 
tlemen for  subordinate  positions;  most  of  them 
looked  upon  it  as  an  easy  place,  where  they  might 
spend  most  of  their  time  in  reading.  I  selected  as 
my  assistant  Philip  R.  Uhler,  who  is  still  connected 
with  the  institution,  and  has  become  Provost.  Dur- 
ing his  absence  at  Cambridge,  where  he  was  a  pupil 
of  Agassiz  in  natural  history,  having  previously  re- 
signed, but  subsequently  reassumed  his  place,  I  ap- 
pointed Alexander  Stork,  who  held  the  position  for 
several  years. 

Some  very  unfounded  prejudices  against  the  In- 
stitute prevailed  generally,  which  I  did  all  in  my 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  1 83 

power  to  remove,  and  to  some  effect.  An  opinion 
was  entertained  by  a  certain  class  of  people  that  it 
was  intended  only  for  what  they  called  the  aristoc- 
racy, and  not  for  persons  of  inferior  station  in  life. 
This  opinion  was  founded  upon  the  fact  that  only 
wealthy,  or  at  least  influential  men  or  leaders  of 
men,  were  managers  of  it,  but  I  took  pains  to  invite 
reading  men  of  all  classes  to  partake  of  its  benefits, 
and  heartily  welcomed  all  who  did  come.  One 
strong  argument  that  I  employed  was  this,  that  if  it 
was  intended  only  for  the  upper  classes  very  few  of 
them  took  advantage  of  it,  for  there  were  hundreds 
of  "  first-class  citizens  "  who  never  entered  the 
house,  and  some  of  them  living  less  than  500  yards 
from  the  building.  It  is  a  singular  fact  that  there 
are  thousands  of  respectable  and  intelligent  men  and 
women  in  this  city  who  to  this  day  have  never  seen 
the  grand  collections  of  books  in  that  library.  There 
are  lovers  and  readers  of  books  by  the  hundreds  who 
never  go  there.  The  prejudice  is  not  eradicated, 
but  I  fear  it  is  on  the  increase.  I  could  tell  some  of 
the  reasons,  but  the  subject  is  not  interesting. 

Uninterrupted  sedentary  labor,  of  seven  hours 
daily,  was  not  favorable  to  my  health,  and  I  became 
weary  of  the  monotonous  life.  After  the  first  year 
it  was  not  much  more  than  manual  labor  or  mercan- 
tile business,  cataloguing,  letter  writing,  and  buying 
at  the  lowest  prices;  this  latter  part  was  often 
humiliating,  but  I  was  compelled  to  submit. 

The  entire  management  of  the  concern  was  left  to 


184  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

me  and  a  member  of  the  Library  Committee.  The 
other  members  paid  no  attention  whatever  to  it,  and 
some  of  them  came  into  the  library  department  once 
or  twice  a  year.  This  member  was  not  a  scholar, 
nor  had  he  any  knowledge  of  the  higher  style  of 
books.  He  did  not  know  a  word  of  Latin,  Greek  or 
German;  he  was  unsympathetic  in  his  nature, 
haughty  in  his  manners,  and  most  absurd  in  his 
pretensions.  He  knew  no  poetry  nor  literature  nor 
science,  and  yet  this  man  was  my  master  in  the 
selection  of  books  and  my  superior  in  authority  in 
all  things.  Never  before  .had  I  been  placed  in  such 
a  humiliating  position.  I  was  mortified  beyond  ex- 
pression at  my  enforced  subserviency.  I  was  often 
compelled  to  yield  my  better  judgment  to  his  im- 
perious dogmatism  to-avoid  a  violent  conflict.  Never 
was  my  patience  put  to  so  severe  a  test,  and  I  bore 
it  all  as  a  righteous  divine  chastisement.  One 
member  of  the  committee  who  would  have  sympa- 
thized with  me  was  sick  during  all  this  time,  and 
died.  I  sometimes  complained  to  him  of  the  man- 
ner in  which  I  was  thwarted  and  oppressed,  and  he 
used  to  say,  ' '  Bear  it  a  little  longer,  until  I  get  well, 
and  you  and  I  will  work  together  harmoniously. ' ' 
Alas  for  me  and  for  him  and  for  the  Institute,  he 
never  recovered.  He  was  a  scholarly  gentleman,  and 
in  his  death  the  Institute  suffered  an  irreparable  loss. 
I  was  made  to  feel  very  soon  that  this  member  did 
not  want  a  man  of  literary  tastes  as  librarian,  but  a 
man  who  could  drive  the  best  bargain  with  the  trade, 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  185 

and  I  often  felt  myself  and  the  institution  belittled 
by  obeying  his  instructions  in  this  regard :  he  wanted 
a  man  who  could  keep  a  ledger,  and  looked  upon  a 
literary  acquaintance  with  books  as  a  secondary 
matter.  A  man  who  could  manage  a  factory,  keep 
the  operatives  severely  to  their  work,  pay  them  off 
on  Saturday  evening,  and  keep  the  accounts  straight, 
was  his  idea  of  the  qualifications  for  a  librarian.  He 
never  would  listen  patiently  to  any  suggestion  I 
might  make,  although  he  subsequently  adopted 
many  of  them  after  I  had  adroitly  made  him  think 
they  were  his  own,  but  as  coming  directly  from  me 
he  never  would  sanction  them.  He  treated  me  and 
my  assistant  as  if  we  were  apprentices  in  a  dry-goods 
store ;  he  had  no  respect  for  our  labors,  and  never 
gave  us  credit  for  anything  we  did;  he  was  con- 
stantly finding  fault.  He  would  give  orders,  and 
then  rebuke  us  for  executing  them,  having  forgotten 
that  he  had  given  them. 

The  man  who  without  any  linguistic  knowledge 
would  pretend  to  select  the  best  editions  of  the  Latin 
and  Greek  classics  must  have  a  high  opinion  of  him- 
self, and  the  man  who  asked  me  ' '  whether  the  Sep- 
tuagint  was  a  Hebrew  Bible,"  and  often  spoke  of  the 
"  Opera  om  i  na  "  of  a  great  author,  and  suggested 
the  purchase  of  a"  Greek  Lexington, ' '  is  not  the 
man  for  a  Library  Committee ! ! ! 

It  may  be  presumed  that  my  situation  was  any- 
thing but  pleasant,  and  I  longed  for  the  day  of  my 
release,  but  only  because  my  daily  association  with 


1 86  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

this  man  embittered  my  life.  I  could  enumerate 
other  grievances  which  I  suffered,  but  I  will  forbear. 
Never  did  I  spend  three  such  unhappy  years,  and 
the  remembrance  of  the  mortifications  to  which  I 
submitted,  and  the  painful  experience  of  my  un- 
happy association  with  that  man,  is  anything  but 
pleasant. 

I  was  previously  told  that  I  would  have  trouble 
with  this  pretentious  individual,  for  his  association 
with  some  gentlemen  in  the  management  of  the 
Baltimore  Library  rendered  him  obnoxious  to  them. 
I  was  warned  against  his  arrogance,  but  I  thought 
that  by  conscientious  attention  to  my  duties,  and  the 
cultivation  of  a  forgiving  spirit,  I  might  overcome 
his  morose  disposition ;  but  from  the  beginning  he 
treated  Uhler  and  me  like  fourth-class  clerks,  and 
showed  his  contempt  of  us  and  his  own  perverseness 
every  day.  And  yet,  let  every  man  have  his  due. 
He  was  a  man  of  leisure,  and  devoted  all  his  time 
to  the  Institute,  from  the  day  the  first  plan  of  the 
building  was  proposed  to  its  completion.  His  resi- 
dence was  within  a  hundred  yards  of  the  location, 
and  enabled  him  to  be  present  constantly  and  to  see 
every  stone  and  brick  laid.  No  other  man  had  time 
or  inclination  to  do  this,  and  he  doubtless  was  of 
some  use.  But  unfortunately  his  service  was  ren- 
dered in  a  very  offensive  manner,  for  there  was  not  a 
workman  about  the  building,  from  the  superintend- 
ent down  to  a  hod-carrier,  who  did  not  take  delight  in 
using  any  other  than  polite  language  respecting  him. 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  1 87 

I  often  defended  him  against  severe  malediction.  I 
have  often  heard  others,  who  were  his  equals  in 
authority  and  far  superior  to  him  in  intelligence  and 
influence,  denouncing  him  without  stint.  But  he 
was  sincerely  honest  in  his  zeal,  I  believe,  and  may 
have  saved  many  a  dollar  for  the  Institute ;  and  yet 
his  bungling  errors  cost  it  many  more.  He  lived 
unloved  and  died  unwept. 

I  left  the  Institute  at  the  expiration  of  my  term 
with  the  personal  good  will  of  every  member  of  the 
Board,  except  this  man ;  and  even  he,  thinking  pos- 
sibly that  I  was  poor,  and  needing  support,  gave  me 
a  parting  stab  by  saying  that  they  would  perhaps 
give  me  a  professorship,  when  he  knew  well  enough 
there  was  no  provision  made  for  such  an  office,  and 
never  would  be.  My  successor,  who  is  a  first-class 
business  man,  soon  managed  to  get  rid  of  this  person 
as  a  member  of  the  Library  Committee,  and  has 
never  encountered  the  humiliating  difficulties  which 
so  severely  taxed  my  patience.  After  my  resigna- 
tion I  received  a  letter  from  Prof.  Henry,  of  the 
Smithsonian  Institute,  of  which  I  give  an  extract: 

"Smithsonian  Institute,  April  6,  1867. 
"Although  your  position  in  the  Institute  gave  you  an  oppor- 
tunity of  doing  much  good  in  the  line  of  your  tastes,  yet  your 
resignation  mnst  relieve  you  from  perplexities  and  annoyances 
ill  suited  to  the  constitutional  habits  and  the  essential  requisites 
of  a  man  of  literature  or  science." 


CHAPTER  IX. 

SUMMER  RESIDENCE  AT  EUTHERVII.EE — EECTURES  AND 
READINGS. 

When,  in  185 1,  Dr.  B.  Kurtz  and  I,  with  our  own 
money  and  on  our  own  responsibility,  bought  the 
farm,  now  called  Lutherville,  consisting  of  a  large 
number  of  acres,  for  which  we  gave  $705 1,  and  which 
we  subsequently  transferred  to  the  Seminary  Board 
at  the  same  price,  to  be  sold  in  lots  at  an  advanced 
price,  thus  raising  funds  to  build  the  Seminary  edifice. 
We  retained  16  acres,  he  eleven  and  I  five,  with  the 
consent  of  the  Board,  as  a  sort  of  compensation  for 
the  risk  we  ran  and  as  interest  on  the  money  ad- 
vanced. I  chose  the  five  acres  which  I  now  occupy 
and  he  selected  eleven,  embracing  that  section  upon 
which  Mrs.  Urlaub's  house  now  stands.  I  once  heard 
it  intimated,  to  my  deep  chagrin,  that  this  enterprise 
of  Dr.  Kurtz's  and  mine  was  a  pecuniary  speculation. 
Never  was  a  greater  calumny  uttered.  Our  design 
was  purely  disinterested.  We  ventured  our  money 
for  the  good  of  the  Church,  and  we  suffered  untold 
anxiety  and  trouble.  Some  men  are  incapable  of 
generous  acts  themselves,  and  think  everybody  else 
like  them,  or  are  envious  of  the  liberality  of  others 
because  it  rebukes  our  own  parsimony. 

(188) 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER  189 

My  house  was  the  first  one  erected.  It  cost  $4,000. 
All  the  ground  was  covered  with  a  dense  forest,  and 
much  preliminary  and  subsequent  work  and  expense 
were  necessary  to  bring  the  surroundings  into  proper 
shape  and  order.  We  moved  out  in  the  summer  of 
1852,  and  have  lived  there  four  or  five  months  of 
every  summer  since  that  day. 

From  the  Lutheran  Observer. 

"  My  Dear  Dr.  S :  You  ask  me  how  I  am  spending  the 

summer  at  my  Tusculum  at  Luther ville.  Well,  a  man  who  has 
a  large  and  convenient  house,  situated  in  the  midst  of  a  grove 
of  native  forest  trees,  and  surrounded  by  some  of  the  cheaper 
embellishments  of  landscape  gardening,  with  a  soil  producing 
in  abundance  all  the  fruits  and  vegetables  of  this  latitude  ;  with 
spring  water,  cold  and  clear ;  with  arbors  inviting  retirement 
from  the  hot  sun  ;  with  seats  scattered  over  the  lawn,  under  the 
shade  of  the  wide-spreading  beech  and  gnarled  oak ;  with  the 
fragrance  of  flowers;  with  the  rose  and  morning-glory,  and 
Wistaria,  Clematis,  and  other  climbing  plants  twining  in  grace- 
ful embrace  over  the  columns  of  his  cottage  ;  w7ith  a  plentifully 
supplied  table  ;  with  a  good  appetite  and  a  grateful  heart  to  en- 
joy it ;  with  a  happy  family  ;  with  a  good  conscience  ;  with  in- 
telligent neighbors  ;  with  a  good  library;  and — and — well,  I  was 
about  to  say,  that  a  man  with  all  these  things  should  spend  his 
time  pleasantly  and  profitably;  shouldn't  he? 

"But  you  ask  me  what  are  my  special  employments  and  my 
regular  everyday  pursuits?  Well,  as  far  as  amusement  is  con- 
cerned, I  receive  my  daily  mail  at  nine  o'clock,  and  then  an 
hour  is  spent  in  reading  the  morning  papers  and  my  letters. 
Those  of  the  latter  requiring  answers  are  immediately  attended 
to.  I  go  fishing  three  or  four  times  every  week,  on  which  ac- 
count my  neighbors  call  me  Old  Izaak  Walton  !  I  give  several 
lessons  a  week  in  botany  to  a  lad  of  my  family;  I  capture  moths 
at  night  in  my  study — well,  if  they  will  come  in  and  fly  about 


190  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

my  lamp,  I  think  it  well  to  press  them  to  stay,  and  they  do!  I 
play  croquet  with  my  girls  and  my  neighbors'  girls  and  boys! 
I  have  even  umpired  the  village  boys  in  their  game  of  base  ball ; 
I  occasionally  serve  at  the  bat  myself,  but  I  pay  a  little  Irish 
boy  to  run  the  bases  for  me ;  I  strike  tremendous  sky-scrapers 
and  clover-cutters,  and  my  Hibernian  boy  makes  many  a  home 
run.  I  play  nine-pins  with  the  ladies  and  gentlemen,  and  often 
make  a  ten-strike,  so  that  I  am  always  chosen  first  by  the 
makers-up  of  the  game.  A  sound  philosopher  once  said  :  '  He 
that  thinks  any  innocent  pastime  foolish,  has  either  to  grow 
wiser,  or  is  past  the  abilit}'  to  do  so.' 

"These  are  my  chief  amusements,  but  I  do  a  great  deal  of 
work  beside .  I  carefully  prepare  one  sermon  a  week  ;  I  go  to 
town  several  times  a  week ;  I  read  the  principal  reviews  and 
monthlies  and  a  few  of  the  weeklies,  beside  skimming  over 
more  than  a  dozen  of  our  own  Church  papers,  especially  the 
German  ;  I  conduct  a  considerable  correspondence  wTith  friends 
and  the  press;  I  am  writing  several  fresh  lectures  for  next 
winter's  campaign.  I  try  to  keep  up  with  the  current  lit- 
erature of  the  day,  which  I  find  it  very  hard  to  do ;  I  am  con- 
stantly making  efforts  to  increase  my  collection  of  books  con- 
cerning Luther,  and  of  the  productions  of  Lutheran  divines  in 
America ;  I  spend  considerable  time  in  entertaining  my  numer- 
ous city  visitors,  for  my  place  is  so  convenient  from  town  !  But 
they  are  always  welcome.  I  give  several  '  receptions '  in  the 
summer,  one  of  which  is  a  strawberry  party,  to  some  of  my  city 
clerical  friends,  and  the  other  to  a  company  of  scientific  asso- 
ciates who  annually  come  out  for  a  day's  recreation.  I  leave 
home  occasionally  with  my  family  on  a  tour  to  the  seashore  or 
elsewhere,  and  especially  to  the  meetings  of  the  American  Asso- 
ciation for  the  Advancement  of  Science,  at  which  I  meet  many 
distinguished  men .     This  is  the  way  I  spend  my  summers  here. ' ' 

For  four  or  five  years  I  have  been  preacher  for  the 
small  congregation  here,  because  when  my  prede- 
cessor resigned  there  was  no  one  ready  to  take  the 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  191 

place,  and  I  happened  just  at  that  time  to  have  no 
pastoral  charge.  The  congregation  is  not  large 
enough  to  support  a  minister,  and  it  suited  both 
parties  for  me  to  step  into  the  vacanc}^. 

MY    CAREER    AS    A    READER. 

From  my  earliest  youth  I  was  a  "  spouter  "  of 
selections  from  Shakespeare  and  other  writers,  and 
spread  myself  widely,  as  young  declaimers  do.  My 
brother  George,  who  had  some  taste  in  that  line, 
often  urged  me  to  recite  my  pieces  in  our  room  be- 
fore we  went  to  bed.  In  this  way  I  acquired  a  full- 
ness of  voice  which  has  been  of  great  service  to  me 
in  public  speaking  during  my  whole  life. 

I  always  was  assigned  to  leading  parts  in  our 
academy  elocutionary  exercises  at  York,  and  when 
I  was  but  a  small  boy  I  took  an  inferior  character 
in  ' '  She  Stoops  to  Conquer, ' '  which  was  played  in 
the  old  court  house  at  York  by  the  young  men  of 
the  town. 

When  public  reading  became  a. popular  institution, 
twenty  or  twenty-five  years  ago,  I  entered  into  the 
ranks  of  professionals  with  energy,  and  have  prose- 
cuted the  subject  to  a  greater  or  less  degree  ever 
since.  I  studied  it  thoroughly  with  all  the  aid  that 
the  numerous  books  could  furnish  me,  and  wrote  out 
a  pretty  thorough  treatise  for  my  own  use,  for  I  was 
called  upon  to  teach  the  art,  and  had  a  number  of 
private  pupils.  It  became  known  that  I  was  giving 
lessons  to  some  persons,  and  I  soon  had  more  appli- 


192  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

cants  for  instruction  than  I  have  ever  told,  for  some 
of  them  were  under  promise  of  secrecy.  Some  were 
teachers  in  schools,  some  were  lawyers,  several  phy- 
sicians applied,  a  few  candidates  for  the  stage,  some 
ministers,  and  one  aspirant  for  a  seat  in  Congress, 
to  whom  I  gave  a  very  few  private  lessons,  but  when 
he  was  defeated  in  the  nomination  by  his  party  he 
gave  up  elocution.  I  received  very  few  of  these 
applicants.  I  did.  not  want  the  reputation  of  being 
a  teacher  of  elocution,  and  would  not  give  the  time 
to  proper  instruction.  I  took  several,  however,  and 
one  of  them  was  an  ambitious  local  Methodist 
preacher,  but  a  truly  good  man,  who  came  to  my 
study  on  Saturday  nights  to  learn  to  read  hymns 
and  the  Scriptures,  and  insisted  upon  giving  me  a 
dollar  for  every  lesson,  which  I  did  not  wish  to  take, 
but  he  seemed  to  be  offended  at  my  refusal.  He 
began  too  late  to  read,  and  with  all  my  pains  I  could 
not  break  him  of  a  peculiar  nasal  pulpit  tone,  which 
he  very  much  regretted. 

I  gave  two  courses  of  ten  lectures  each  in  the 
Peabody  Institute  at  $150  for  each  course.  I  had 
twenty  to  thirty  pupils,  but  did  not  accomplish  much 
with  beginners,  for  I  had  no  opportunity  of  giving 
each  of  them  special  instruction,  which  is  absolutely 
necessary.  The  hour  slipped  around  before  I  could 
hear  each  one  read  and  correct  their  faults,  and  be- 
sides I  always  gave  a  lecture  of  twenty  to  thirty 
minutes  duration.  I  have  no  confidence  in  general 
class  instruction  in  elocution.     Unless  there  is  fre- 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  1 93 

quent  reading  by  each  pupil,  teaching  does  not  do 
much  for  practical  reading. 

For  some  years  I  have  given,  by  appointment  of 
the  Board,  annual  lectures  to  the  Seminary  students 
at  Gettysburg.  Many  of  them  have  gone  out  as  ex- 
cellent readers  of  hymns  and  the  Bible,  as  well  as 
good  declaimers. 

Of  course  I  have  frequently  been  invited  to  enter- 
tain societies,  private  assemblies,  churches,  and 
home  parties;  I  have  gone  to  more  than  twenty 
different  towns  and  read  for  the  benefit  of  religious 
societies  and  literary  circles,  but  seldom  asked  for 
any  pay. 

I  could  not  mention  the  number  of  times  I  have 
read  in  Baltimore,  publicly  and  privately,  and  have 
received  the  stereotyped  notices  of  the  newspapers. 

This  business,  like  all  others,  has  been  overdone. 
Many  pretenders,  of  both  sexes,  have  ventured  upon 
this  stage,  and  they  fail  ingloriously ;  while  there  are 
many  also,  of  both  sexes,  who  are  wonderfully  gifted, 
and  some  of  them  make  a  good  living  in  the  pro- 
fession. 

Of  course  I  went  to  hear  all  the  public  readers 
who  advertised  in  Baltimore,  but  I  have  never  heard 
any  tragedian  on  the  regular  stage.  I  should  like 
to  hear  how  some  of  the  most  eminent  render  certain 
passages  in  Shakespeare  and  other  popular  drama- 
tists. An  actor  of  some  eminence  once  called  at  the 
Peabody  Institute,  and  upon  being  introduced  to 
him  I  asked  him  how  he  would  read  a  certain  pas- 
13 


194  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

sage  in  Shakespeare's  "  Julius  Caesar."  He  read  it, 
and  I  ventured  to  dissent  from  him.  When  he  heard 
my  reading,  and  it  was  but  a  single  line,  he  ex- 
claimed, "  By  George,  if  I  ever  play  Cassius  I  will 
adopt  your  reading,  for  it  brings  out  the  sense,  which 
my  rendering  did  not. ' '  This  led  to  further  conver- 
sation, and  he  gave  me  to  understand  that  most 
actors  read  mechanically,  without  sentiment ;  it  was 
their  profession,  and  their  only  aim  was  to  get 
through  the  part  as  soon  and  as  genteelly  as  possi- 
ble ;  that  while  the  audience  was  sometimes  moved 
to  tears  or  other  demonstrations,  the  actors  were 
really  indifferent  to  all  the  emotion  they  seemed  to 
feel,  or  were  really  winking  to  other  actors  behind 
the  scenery. 

From  many  of  these  professional  readers  I  learned 
much,  but  others  taught  me  nothing.  I  introduced 
myself  to  some  of  them,  and  had  some  interesting 
and  profitable  interviews.  Some  of  the  gentlemen 
and  ladies  were  cultivated  people,  and  others  were 
anything  else. 

Some  of  these  men  occasionally  have  strange  and 
unpleasant  experiences.  I  rememeber  once  hearing 
a  first-class  professional  reader  perform  in  a  country 
town  where  I  happened  to  be  at  the  time.  In  recit- 
ing a  humorous  piece,  which  he  did  admirably,  he 
was,  of  course,  compelled  to  distort  his  face  to  bring 
out  the  full  force,  and  this  naturally  set  the  audience 
into  a  roar,  and  a  benchful  of  little  boys  seated  just 
before  him  were  particularly  demonstrative  in  their 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  1 95 

applause.  Before  the  noise  had  subsided  the  reader 
announced  the  impassioned  defense  of  Cataline, 
which  requires  great  physical  exertion,  loud  and 
vehement  declamation,  the  facial  expression  of 
anger,  contempt  and  disdain,  and  necessarily  oc- 
casions distortion  of  the  features.  These  little  boys 
thought  he  was  reciting  another  funny  piece,  and 
laughed  uproariously.  The  reader  was  in  the  midst 
of  the  most  impassioned  part,  and  was  dreadfully 
annoyed  by  this  untimely  demonstration.  I  leaned 
over  and  told  the  scamps  to  hush,  and  that  this  was 
not  the  time  to  laugh  but  to  cry,  but  they  could  not 
understand. 

The  reader  committed  an  error.  The  transition 
from  the  broadly  comic  to  the  deeply  tragic  was  too 
sudden.  It  was  an  offence  against  good  taste  as  well 
as  against  mental  philosophy. 

I  have  tried  to  push  forward  some  young  aspirants 
to  fame  and  money,  and  have  secured  places  for  them 
by  letters  and  personal  efforts.  A  few  have  paid 
their  expenses  and  perhaps  had  little  over,  but  I 
remember  one  occasion  where  I  was  compelled  to 
make  up  a  deficiency  to  save  a  candidate  for  elocu- 
tionary honors  from  very  serious  embarrassment.  I 
was  under  no  obligation  to  pay  other  people's  debts, 
but  I  did  it,  to  the  great  relief  of  those  particularly 
concerned.  I  vowed  to  quit  recommending  adven- 
turous and  unfledged  readers. 

I  know  one  very  ambitious  young  man,  with  whom 
I  read  in  private  several  times  at  his  request.     No 


I96  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

one  else  was  present,  and  the  practice  was  pleasant. 
He  aimed  at  being  a  professional  elocutionist,  and 
hoped  to  make  a  fortune  by  following  the  business. 
He  began  his  career  in  a  neighboring  city,  and  failed 
in  bringing  out  a  crowd  and  did  not  even  pay  ex- 
penses. He  became  disheartened,  and  came  to  tell 
me  that  after  earnest  prayer  he  felt  it  his  duty  to 
enter  the  Methodist  ministry,  in  which,  however,  he 
did  not  continue  for  more  than  several  years,  and 
then  joined  the  Unitarians. 

Another  young  man,  engaged  in  a  very  honorable 
and  useful  profession,  came  to  me  for  instruction, 
and  said  that  he  was  a  candidate  for  the  Methodist 
ministry.  I  took  him  as  a  pupil,  but  charged  him 
nothing.  I  lost  sight  of  him  for  several  }^ears,  and 
was  then  told  that  he  had  been  refused  license  on 
the  ground  of  unsoundness  in  the  faith,  and  had 
gone  to  the  Unitarian  church.  My  gratuitous  serv- 
ice was  all  in  vain. 

For  several  winters  we  had  reading  exercises  con- 
ducted by  me  weekly  in  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  rooms,  be- 
fore the  present  building  was  erected.  We  usually 
had  good  audiences,  and  spent  agreeable  evenings. 
Some  of  my  old  pupils  usually  read ;  others  I  some- 
times invited,  and  occasionally  there  were  volunteers, 
some  of  whom  did  well,  but  others  badly.  So  many 
of  the  latter  appeared  that  the  audiences  thinned 
out,  and  I  became  weary  of  it  and  broke  it  up. 
There  were  some  exhibitions  of  such  presumptuous 
vanity  and  affectation  as  are  seldom  witnessed. 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  1 97 

THE    LECTURE    PLATFORM. 

It  was  about  the  year  1830  that  the  public  lecture 
system  was  first  introduced  into  Baltimore.  It  was 
a  new  institution,  but  it  has  since  become  universal, 
and  has  been  pursued  by  some  as  a  profession.  Like 
many  other  good  things,  it  was  carried  to  a  ridiculous 
extent,  and  many  ambitious  men,  who  had  neither 
the  qualifications  of  education,  character  nor  grace- 
ful elocution,  sought  distinction  and  money  in  this 
field.  Some  secured  both,  and  they  became  so  pop- 
ular as  public  lecturers  that  their  services  were  en- 
gaged months  in  advance  at  high  prices.  Some 
clergymen  especially  acquired  immense  reputations 
in  this  department,  and  were  invited  to  remote 
places  to  be  heard.  Others  of  smaller  note  set 
themselves  up  in  the  profession,  but  a  few  experi- 
ments demonstrated  their  incapacity  for  the  work. 

This  ' '  lecturing*  business  ' '  would  make  a  good 
subject  for  a  first-class  article,  but  this  is  not  my 
design  at  present. 

I  do  not  remember  how  it  was  that  I  became  one 
of  our  earliest  lecturers  in  Baltimore,  but  I  am  sure 
it  was  not  of  my  own  seeking  or  appointment,  but  I 
held  forth  on  "  The  Honey  Bee  "  as  early  as  1833 
in  what  was  then  called  Warfield's  church,  in  St. 
Paul  street,  now  standing  back  of  a  house  which 
N.  C.  Brooks  built  for  a  ladies'  school.  This  lec- 
ture, with  various  additions,  has  been  repeated  by 
me  more  than  twenty  times  in  various  places,  and 
frequently  by  special  request.     It  interested  people 


198  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

everywhere,  for  it  is  wonderful  how  few  persons 
know  anything  about  the  extraordinary  habits  of 
that  little  insect.  I  had  large  painted  illustrations 
(as  I  have  for  all  my  lectures),  which  add  much  to 
the  understanding  of  the  subject  and  to  the  relief  of 
the  lecturer. 

The  Smithsonian  Institute  in  former  years  had 
regular  series  every  winter.  Prof.  Henry  invited 
me  to  give  six  or  seven  on  "  The  Transformations  of 
Insects  "  and  allied  subjects,  which  were  attended  by 
crowds  of  persons.  One  evening  in  riding  over  to 
the  Institute  in  the  same  carriage  with  several 
Southern  members  of  Congress,  I  mentioned  that  I 
was  going  to  show  that  there  was  such  a  thing  as 
slavery  among  a  certain  genus  of  insects,  and  that 
the  slaves  were  black,  as  is  well  known  to  be  the  case 
among  ants.  "  Make  the  most  of  it,  Doctor,"  said 
they.  "  Not  more  than  nature  has  done,"  said  I, 
"  and  that  is  enough.  Even  you  Southern  slave- 
holders would  not  do  what  instinct  leads  ants  to  do, 
that  is,  steal  your  slaves  from  neighboring  planta- 
tions and  compel  them  to  work  for  you. ' '  They 
were  much  gratified  with  this  information,  new  to 
them,  but  I  gave  them  to  understand  that  in  my 
judgment  this  slave -holding  system  of  the  ants  did 
not  justify  human  slavery. 

I  afterwards  gave  another  series  in  the  Smith- 
sonian; subsequently  I  gave  a  course  of  six  on  "  In- 
sect Architecture, ' '  '  'Discoveries  of  the  Microscope, ' ' 
and  "Some  Wonders  in  the  Structure  and  Life  of 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  1 99 

Plants, "  in  Dr.  Butler's  new  church.  Prof.  Henry 
was  in  the  pulpit  with  me,  and  made  some  remarks 
afterwards. 

On  numerous  other  occasions  I  held  forth  as  lec- 
turer in  Washington  at  Dr.  Butler's  church  or  lec- 
ture-room, and  once  before  the  Washington  National 
Academy  on  "The  History  and  Progress  of  Natural 
History  in  the  United  States."  They  passed  a  com- 
plimentary resolution  to  have  my  lecture  published, 
which  was  the  last  I  ever  heard  of  it,  as  I  expected, 
for  it  was  an  impecunious  concern,  and  did  not  last 
long. 

Besides  my  regular  and  annual  course  in  the  Sem- 
inary and  College  at  Gettysburg  I  have  lectured  in 
the  College  church  and  Agricultural  Hall  in  the  same 
town.  On  one  occasion  many  years  ago  the  students 
undertook  to  raise  money  for  some  purpose  connected 
with  the  College,  probably  for  Linnsean  Hall,  and 
they  sent  for  me  to  help  them  out  of  the  difficulty, 
if  possible.  I  went  and  gave  them  two  discourses 
on  "Adventures  in  the  Alps,"  and  raised  $80  for 
them.  It  was  a  small  sum,  but  it  relieved  them  of 
some  pressing  demand. 

Many  a  poor  church,  Sunday-school  or  other  re- 
ligious enterprise  have  I  thus  aided  on  a  small 
scale.  My  "Bee  and  Alps"  lectures  were  in  great 
demand,  and  though  it  is  now  thirty  years  since  I 
was  on  the  Alps,  yet  that  lecture,  with  my  pretty 
pictures,  is  still  occasionally  called  for. 

I  gave  the  ' '  History  of  the  Hessian  Fly  and  the 


200  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

Wheat  Midge,  with  the  best  Methods  of  Preventing 
their  Ravages, ' '  before  the  Agricultural  Society  of 
Frederick  county,  Md.,  and  also  the  York  County, 
Pa.,  Agricultural  Society. 

Some  years  I  have  received  as  many  as  twenty  in- 
vitations to  lecture  or  read  from  different  quarters, 
but  I  did  not  accept  the  half  of  them.  I  was  seldom 
offered  more  than  traveling  expenses,  but  this  was 
not  the  reason  for  declining.  I  did  not  like  leaving 
home  in  the  dead  of  winter,  nor  lecturing  probably 
in  a  cold  church  to  a  small  audience,  if  the  weather 
should  be  bad,  or  the  roads  muddy,  or  the  nights 
dark,  nor  being  put,  probably,  in  a  cold  room  to 
sleep,  nor  being  exposed  in  riding  to  the  place  from 
the  railroad  station,  as  was  sometimes  the  case.  I 
refused  some  invitations  to  places  of  easy  access  be- 
cause my  conditions  were  not  complied  with,  which 
were  simply  that  a  good  audience  was  to  be  secured 
in  advance  by  the  sale  of  tickets,  and  all  matters 
previously  arranged,  so  that  nothing  was  left  to  me 
but  to  do  my  work. 

The  subjects  of  my  lectures  were  generally  scien- 
tific or  literary.  I  never  chose  any  of  those  so-called 
popular  or  ad  captandum  themes  which  some  of  our 
men  delight  in,  such  as  matrimony  and  the  like. 

Colleges  at  which  I  have  given  single  lectures  are, 
besides  Gettysburg,  the  University  of  Virginia,  at 
Charlottesville,  where  by  invitation  of  the  Students' 
Christian  Association  I  gave  on  Sunday  night,  in  the 
University  Hall,  "Young  Men  in  History,"  Newark, 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  20  1 

Del.,  Allentown,  Pa.,  and  trie  Agricultural  College 
near  Washington.  I  have  received  invitations  from 
the  college  at  Westminster,  Md.,  and  Springfield,  O. 

The  following  are  the  places  where  I  have  occu- 
pied the  lecture  platform:  City  of  New  York,  Phil- 
adelphia several  times,  Lancaster,  York  frequently, 
Gettysburg  frequently,  Chambersburg,  Harrisburg, 
Hanover,  Lutherville,  Towson,  Ellicott  City,  Fred- 
erick, Westminster,  Richmond,  Cumberland,  Kutz- 
town,  Catonsville,  Govanstown,  Allegheny  City, 
Selinsgrove,  Pottstown,  Hazleton,  Mechanicstown, 
Reisterstown  six  times,  Union  Bridge,  New  Market, 
Salem,  Washington  several  times,  at  Dr.  Butler's 
church  and  two  courses  in  the  Smithsonian,  Wil- 
mington, and  other  places  not  remembered.  I  was 
invited  to  Wythe  ville  and  Marion,  Va.,  Bellefonte, 
Pa. ,  and  many  other  places,  which  I  refused. 

The  following  is  an  extract  of  an  article  of  mine 
in  the  Observer  : 

"The  minister  who  has  acquired  a  respectable  reputation  as  a 
lecturer  or  reader,  has  an  opportunity  of  extensively  helping 
religious  objects  without  any  expense  to  them,  if  he  has  inclina- 
tion and  time.  I  know  a  man  who  has  unfortunately  for  him- 
self become  somewhat  notorious  in  this  line,  who  this  winter 
has  had  over  twenty  invitations  to  exercise  his  alleged  gifts,  and 
not  more  than  two  of  them  offered  anything  like  compensation. 
They  ask  him  to  leave  his  own  work  at  home,  to  expose  him- 
self to  all  sorts  of  weather,  to  run  constant  risks  of  his  life  on 
railroads,  to  wear  out  his  clothes,  to  sleep  in  cold  rooms  and  to 
submit  to  many  other  inconveniences,  and  the  only  return 
offered  in  most  cases,  is,  'your  traveling  expenses  will  be  paid.' 
They  expect  a  man  to  consent  to  an  absence  of  two  or  three 


202  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

days  from  his  church  and  family,  to  be  willing  to  lose  the  bene- 
fit of  a  wedding  or  two,  to  invite  some  other  minister  to  attend 
to  funerals  and  other  pastoral  labors,  to  yield  to  the  contraction 
of  a  cold,  to  give  up  his  books  and  warm  study,  and  all  for 
'your  expenses  will  be  paid.'  Nothing  said  about  torn  coat, 
bedusted  clothes,  exposure  to  the  vitiated  air,  the  vulgar  pro- 
fanity, the  rude  jostling,  and  tobacco-puddled  floor  of  a  crowded 
car ;  nothing  said  about  the  risk  of  losing  your  carpet  bag  or 
breaking  your  limbs,  or  detention  on  the  road,  or  collisions,  or 
misplaced  switches  or  perilous  night  travel!  Oh!  no;  'your 
necessary  expenses  will  be  paid.' 

"This  acquaintance  of  mine  has  had  some  rich  experience  in 
the  lecturing  business.  Among  many  others  he  says  that  he 
was  some  time  ago  invited  by  a  minister  on  the  border  of  New 
York  State,  which  would  have  required  at  least  four  days'  ab- 
sence from  home.  '  Expenses  would  be  paid '  and  yet  the 
minister  would  not  consent  to  sell  tickets  and  ascertain  whether 
he  could  secure  an  audience ;  he  was  not  certain  whether  the 
people  would  come  out,  as  it  was  a  new  thing,  and  was  not  even 
sure  whether  the  'expenses'  would  be  made  up. 

"Another  minister,  living  in  a  small  obscure  village,  wanted 
to  'surprise  his  people,'  and  this  is  the  way  it  was  to  be  done. 
The  lecturer  was  to  travel  over  seventy-five  miles  and  to  arrive 
in  the  village  just  at  night- fall  and  nobody  was  to  know  it. 
The  bell  was  to  be  rung  and  the  people  would  come  without  any 
previous  announcement.  Then  the  '  lecturer  '  was  to  enter  the 
church,  and  thus  'surprise'  the  congregation!  Happy  concep- 
tion, most  considerate  minister!  If  the  lecturer  had  been  fool 
enough  to  go,  he  might  have  had  about  ten  old  women,  and 
seven  men,  and  four  mischievous  boys  and  two  young  darkies 
for  an  audience.  Well,  he  did  not  go,  and  told  the  minister  that 
he  (the  lecturer)  could  put  him  in  the  way  of  'surprising'  his 
people  at  a  much  cheaper  cost,  and  that  was  by  studying  and 
preparing  some  good  sermons  and  faithfully  doing  his  pastoral 
duties,  and  if  that  did  not  'surprise  '  them  they  must  be  ineffa- 
bly stupid!     He  has  not  heard  from  that  quarter  since. 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  203 

"A  peculiar  and  forcible  argument  was  once  employed  by  a 
country  pastor  to  induce  the  lecturer  in  question  to  accept  an 
invitation.  The  place  was  an  out-of-the-way  village,  where  per- 
haps two  or  three  newspapers  were  taken,  where  the  people  had 
little  or  no  intercourse  with  the  outside  world,  where  there  was 
110  social  influence  and  no  literary  culture,  and  the  last  place 
in  the  world  where  a  man  could  make  a  hit  and  acquire  reputa- 
tion. The  argument  urged  by  the  minister  was  that  a  good 
lecture  in  his  church  would  secure  for  the  performer  a  good 
name,  and  thus  promote  his  interest  as  a  candidate  for  similar 
favors  elsewhere !  Jehoshaphat !  a  penny  whistle  to  trumpet 
fame,  and  the  bleating  of  a  calf  for  an  advertisement! 

"Some  of  our  lecturing  friends  are  sometimes  sadly  disap- 
pointed in  their  audiences.  One  of  them  told  me  that  he  once 
went  over  a  hundred  miles  to  lecture  and  his  subject  was  '  Mat- 
rimony.' It  happened  that  the  weather  was  bad  that  night  and 
his  whole  audience  was  made  up  of  four  old  women,  two  very 
old  men  and  three  very  young  boys,  one  of  whom  was  a  darkey, 
the  most  inappropriate  audience  for  a  discourse  on  matrimony 
that  can  be  conceived.     There  was  no  fitness  of  things. 

"Some  men  have  adopted  the  lecturing  business  as  a  profes- 
sion, and  being  popular  and  immensely  puffed  they  make  money 
by  it.  They  get  from  fifty  to  a  hundred  dollars  a  night.  Some 
men  get  more,  but  they  are  not  lecturers  by  profession.  They 
are  eminent  ministers  or  scientists.  Tyndall  was  paid  by  this 
city  $1,000  for  three  lectures,  and  more  at  some  other  places. 
Gough  charges  from  $250  to  $300  a  night,  and  some  few  lady 
lecturers  are  paid  high  prices.  Saxe  came  to  Gettysburg  for 
one  hundred  dollars  and  Lossing  for  sixty  dollars,  and  of  that 
sum  they  were  obliged  to  pay  a  good  per  cent,  to  the  bureau  in 
New  York. 

' '  I  hear  some  one  ask,  '  What  is  this  bureau  ? '  It  is  an  office 
at  which  lecturers  register  their  names,  subjects  and  prices.  The 
men  at  the  office  engage  to  furnish  lecturers  of  any  grade  and 
price,  and  select  from  their  list  the  men  who  they  think  will 
suit  the  applicants  and  send  them,  and  of  course  they  charge 


204  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

the  lecturers  for  securing  the  engagement  for  them.  Most  of 
the  business  for  the  Northern  States  is  carried  on  in  this  way, 
and  frequently  the  people  are  sadly  disappointed. 

"If  an  ambitious  gentleman  has,  or  thinks  he  has,  a  good 
lecture,  let  him  deliver  it  in  Turkey  Buzzard  School  house,  and 
then  pay  the  editor  of  '  The  Cross-road  Literary  and  Political 
Trumpeter'  to  blow  loud  and  long.  Let  the  aspirant  send  the 
puffs  to  the  bureau,  his  name  will  be  put  on  the  list,  and  he  may 
secure  several  paying  engagements,  but  his  shallowness  will 
soon  be  discovered  and  he  be  dropped.  I  have  seen  such  lauda- 
tions of  some  of  our  men  in  the  papers  which  would  have  been 
worth  at  least  one  hundred  dollars  to  them  if  they  had  '  put  in  ' 
at  the  bureau.  I  would  advise  these  men  not  to  select  Matri- 
mony as  a  subject.  They  do  not  handle  it  delicately.  They 
compel  ladies  to  hang  their  heads  in  shame ;  they  offend  re- 
fined people,  and  cultivated  audiences  will  not  listen  to  them  a 
second  time.  I  know  one  man  who  broke  down  under  the 
weight  of  a  matrimony  lecture.  It  was  horribly  offensive  in  its 
allusions  and  exceedingly  commonplace  in  its  treatment.  He 
could  not  get  on  the  bureau  list,  nor  secure  a  hearing  outside 
of  his  own  narrow  circle,  and  he  wilted.  Beware  of  lecturing 
on  matrimony,  whatever  you  may  do  about  practically  demon- 
strating it!" 


CHAPTER  X. 

CHURCH   CORRESPONDENCE. 

From  my  earliest  ministry  an  extensive  exchange 
of  letters  on  church  affairs  has  taken  up  much  of  my 
time.  I  do  not  mean  to  intimate  that  it  was  all  time 
wasted;  much  of  it,  on  the  other  hand,  was  useful 
labor,  for  it  concerned  the  Church;  there  was  no 
subject  of  great  importance  relating  to  her  welfare 
agitated  in  the  central  section  of  our  territory  that 
did  not  come  within  the  sphere  of'  my  correspond- 
ence. Many  letters  from  beyond  these  central  limits 
on  special  church  subjects  were  also  received,  most 
of  which  required  answers.  I  managed,  however, 
to  keep  free  from  controversies  existing  elsewhere, 
or  participation  in  any  exciting  subject;  but  in  mat- 
ters of  peaceful  interest  and  the  general  good,  in- 
volving no  quarrel,  I  took  an  active  part.  Hence 
there  were  few  of  the  most  influential  men  of  the 
Church  (until  they  became  so  numerous)  with  whom 
I  had  not  more  or  less  intercourse  by  letter,  and  with 
a  select  few,  in  earlier  days,  the  interchange  was 
frequent. 

I  also  received  my  share  of  anonymous  letters, 
some  of  which  were  outrageously  abusive,  a  few  ad- 

(205) 


2o6  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

visory  or  minatory,  none  complimentary.  One  of 
the  offenders  in  this  business,  whom  I  had  often  en- 
tertained at  my  house,  was  not  aware  that  I  detected 
his  handwriting,  which  he  had  not  sense  enough 
carefully  to  disguise,  but  I  allowed  him  to  go  to  the 
grave  without  letting  him  know  that  I  had  discov- 
ered that  he  was  guilty  of  such  meanness.  He 
played  other  dishonorable  tricks  upon  me,  but  I  said 
nothing. 

I  never  carried  on  a  large  correspondence  on 
church  affairs  with  men  abroad.  Epistolary  inter- 
course between  us  native  Americans  and  ministers 
in  Germany  has  never  been  extensive.  Inspector 
Hoffman,  at  that  time  "Inspector"  of  the  Basle 
Missionary  Institute,  afterwards  Superintendent  at 
Berlin,  and  I  had  a  rather  lively  correspondence 
concerning  an  unworthy  German  minister  who 
brought  a  letter  from  him.  I  saw  him  subsequently 
at  Basle,  and  we  had  a  very  satisfactory  explanation 
of  the  affair.  Several  other  German  ministers  wrote 
to  me  concerning  some  of  their  relatives  in  this 
country,  but  this  was  merely  formal  business,  and 
not  ecclesiastical.  My  scientific  correspondence  with 
foreigners  was  much  more  extensive. 

When  I  was  in  Germany  I  found  that  most  of  the 
clergy  whom  I  saw  cared  very  little  about  the 
Church  in  the  United  States,  especially  the  English 
portion  of  it,  and  hence  did  not  trouble  themselves 
with  correspondence.  An  improvement  in  this  re- 
spect has  taken  place  within  the  last  twenty  years, 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  207 

and  particularly  at  this  time.  Some  of  our  Home 
Mission  Societies  are,  at  this  time,  carrying  on  cor- 
respondence with  the  heads  of  several  Mission  Insti- 
tutes in  Germany  in  relation  to  sending  over  young 
men  to  fill  the  numerous  vacant  German  pulpits  and 
mission  stations  among  us.  Our  seminaries  here 
cannot  furnish  the  men,  for  the  demands  of  English 
churches  are  more  numerous  than  we  can  supply, 
and  comparatively  few  of  our  theological  students 
learn  to  preach  German,  and  even  if  they  can  they 
prefer  serving  English,  congregations.  Hence  the 
necessity  of  sending  abroad  for  young  men,  and  it  is 
this  fact  which  of  late  years  has  awakened  a  new 
interest  in  the  Church  of  this  country  among  many 
pious  people  in  Germany. 

PRIVATE    CORRESPONDENCE. 

I  frequently  received  letters  involving  the  most 
private  interests,  confessions  of  secret  sins,  earnest 
entreaties  for  prayer,  as  well  as  importunate  solici- 
tations for  aid.  To  maintain  secrecy,  which  most 
of  the  correspondents  requested,  I  never  allowed 
my  letters  to  be  opened  during  my  absence  from 
home,  or  at  any  other  time,  even  by  my  own  family. 
Some  of  them  involved  affairs  of  great  private  inter- 
est to  the  writers,  which  I  was  compelled  to  regard 
as  ' '  professional  secrets  ' '  as  much  as  physicians  are 
obliged  to  do. 

Aid  was  given  to  many  a  poor  sufferer  whose 
name  was  never  known  to  any  one  besides  myself, 


208  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

advice  to  some  in  difficulty,  warning-  to  some  in 
danger  of  ruin,  visits  of  condolence  to  private  suf- 
ferers and  to  prisoners.  On  one  occasion,  through 
private  correspondence  of  this  kind,  I  thwarted  the 
wicked  schemes  of  an  unprincipled  lawyer  to  de- 
fraud some  heirs  of  their  inheritance  who  were 
friends  of  mine.  He  heard  of  it,  and  pursued  me 
with  malice  until  he  died. 

SCIENTIFIC    AND    LITERARY    CORRESPONDENCE    AT    HOME. 

My  studies  in  science  necessarily  brought  me  into 
contact  and  correspondence  with  many  men. 

Dr.  E.  F.  Melsheimer,  of  York  county,  Pa. ,  and  I 
were  fast  friends  for  many  years,  until  he  died.  He 
was  a  capital  entomologist,  and  was  of  unspeakable 
service  to  me  in  my  recreative  pursuits.  I  visited 
him  once  a  year  for  many  years  at  his  simple  home, 
and  always  admired  his  inflexible  integrity,  his  un- 
pretending honesty  of  purpose,  and  his  extensive 
and  correct  knowledge  of  entomology  in  particular 
and  of  things  generally.  He  seldom  left  home,  but 
devoted  all  his  time  to  his  studies  and  his  practice 
of  medicine.  His  letters  were  always  valuable,  be- 
cause they  embraced  the  results  of  his  patient  re- 
searches. I  am  more  indebted  to  him  in  this  branch 
of  study  than  to  any  man  of  all  my  extensive  ac- 
quaintance. Many  of  his  letters  will  be  found  among 
my  papers. 

I  became  acquainted  with  that  singularly  gifted 
man,    S.  S.   Haldeman,  very  early  in  my  scientific 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  209 

pursuits.  Entomology  and  conchology  were  his 
chief  subjects  when  I  first  knew  him,  and  his  con- 
tributions to  both  these  branches  are  invaluable. 
Our  mutual  visits  and  letters  were  numerous.  He 
was  a  genial  spirit,  inexhaustible  in*  his  fund  of  in- 
formation on  almost  all  subjects,  without  the  least 
display  of  pedantry  or  affectation.  I  learned  much 
from  his  very  instructive  conversation,  and  he  was 
ever  ready  to  communicate  by  letter  whatever  he 
was  asked.  He  had  risen  to  eminence  as  a  natur- 
alist, at  home  and  abroad,  by  his  writings  and  dis- 
coveries, and  was  highly  respected  and  honored  as 
a  perfect  gentleman. 

I  first  became  acquainted  with  Agassiz  in  New- 
port, at  the  meeting  of  the  American  Association  for 
the  Advancement  of  Science,  and  somehow  or  other 
we  ' '  took  to  each  other  ' '  at  sight.  I  met  him  fre- 
quently afterwards,  and  visited  him  at  Cambridge0 
We  usually  spoke  German,  and  that  may  perhaps 
have  contributed  to  drawing  us  nearer  together. 
Sometimes  he  imperceptibly  glided  into  French,  but 
I  did  not  venture  on  French  with  him,  and  drew 
him  back  to  the  language  of  the  Vaterland,  in  which 
I  could  get  along  more  fluently  and  correctly.  He 
is  a  world-known  man,  and  I  need  say  nothing  more 
of  him  here.  His  letters,  which  I  have  preserved, 
are  highly  valued  by  me. 

For  more  than  twenty-five  years  I  was  as  intimate 
with  Prof.  Henry,  of  the  Smithsonian,  as  any  one 
could  well  be  intimate  with  that  extraordinary  man. 
14 


2IO  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

Sometimes  he  was  familiarly  cordial,  and  then 
again  apparently  cold  and  repellent.  But  all  who 
knew  him  kindly  overlooked  these  peculiarities,  for 
he  showed  this  disposition  indiscriminately  to  all 
his  friends.  I  have  passed  him  in  the  Smithsonian 
unrecognized  by  him  when  he  was  profoundly  ab- 
sorbed in  some  abstruse  proposition  in  physics,  or 
annoyed  with  the  endless  difficulties  he  encountered 
in  the  management  of  that  institution.  Upon  meet- 
ing him  a  few  hours  afterwards,  when  he  had  per- 
haps worked  out  his  philosophical  problem,  or  had 
relieved  his  mind  from  some  perplexity,  he  was 
cordial,  and  greeted  me  with  engaging  familiarity. 
I  visited  him  whenever  I  went  to  Washington,  which 
was  two  or  three  times  a  year. 

Our  exchange  of  letters  was  not  frequent,  but  im- 
portant. He  sympathized  with  me  deeply  in  my 
unpleasant  relations  at  the  Peabody  Institute.  I 
proposed  to  the  Peabody  Board  that  it  would  be  an 
appropriate  compliment  to  Prof.  Henry  to  invite 
him  to  deliver  the  first  lecture  after  the  opening. 
They  agreed,  and  he  accepted  the  invitation.  He 
gave  considerable  offence  to  the  Board  for  his  out- 
spoken plainness  on  the  inexpediency  of  spending 
large  sums  of  money  on  buildings  for  such  institu- 
tions. His  friends  are  well  aware  of  his  opinions 
on  that  subject,  and  on  this  occasion  he  was  very 
candid.  Several  of  his  subsequent  letters  to  me 
alluded  to  this  matter  I  remember  once  rendering 
him  a  service  for  which  he  was  very  thankful.     A 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  211 

large  let  of  rare  German  pamphlets  of  the  times  of 
the  Reformation  were  sent  to  the  Smithsonian 
library,  the  titles  of  which  he  requested  me  to 
translate.  I  did  the  work  to  his  great  satisfaction. 
Those  pamphlets  would  be  immensely  valuable  to 
any  writer  on  the  Reformation,  for  they  are  all 
originals.      They  are  now  in  the  Congress  library. 

In  one  of  his  letters  the  Professor  says :  "  I  think 
the  lectures  you  gave  at  the  Smithsonian  were 
among  the  most  interesting  we  have  yet  received, 
and  without  further  notice  I  have  directed  that  you 
be  put  down  for  a  course  of  four,  five  or  six  lectures 
on  insects,  to  be  delivered  next  winter. ' ' 

Prof.  S.  F.  Baird,  the  distinguished  successor  of 
Prof.  Henry,  and  I  were  on  the  most  friendly  terms 
of  acquaintance  and  correspondence  even  before  he 
went  to  Washington.  He  is  a  man  of  world-wide 
fame,  and  has  rendered  inappreciable  service  to  the 
natural  history  of  the  country.  PI  is  management 
of  the  Smithsonian  for  many  years  as  Assistant  Sec- 
retary and  as  head  of  the  establishment,  has  secured 
the  admiration  of  the  whole  scientific  world.  I  may 
safely  say  that  more  than  one  hundred  letters  have 
passed  between  us,  besides  frequent  visits,  for  I 
never  go  to  Washington  without  calling  on  this  most 
excellent  of  gentlemen  at  his  office,  and  though 
almost  constantly  overwhelmed  with  visitors,  yet  I 
always  have  the  entree,  when  some  others  are 
obliged  to  wait. 

Dr.  Thomas   Stewartson,   of   Philadelphia,    and   I 


212  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

had  a  long  correspondence  on  the  Ailanthus  Silk 
Worm,  but  it  resulted  in  nothing  practically  bene- 
ficial. Mr.  Grinnell,  of  the  Department  of  Agri- 
culture, and  I  had  frequent  interchanges  of  letters 
on  this  same  subject. 

W.  T.  Harris,  of  Cambridge,  Mass.,  one  of  our 
early  entomologists,  and  an  eminent  writer,  favored 
me  with  many  letters,  some  of  which  I  have  care- 
fully preserved. 

That  rare  genius  and  thorough  entomologist  and 
general  scholar,  Benjamin  D.  Walsh,  of  Rock  Island, 
111.,  was  an  active  correspondent  of  mine.  He  was 
an  Englishman,  and  a  graduate  of  Oxford.  I  do  not 
know  what  induced  him  to  come  to  this  country,  but 
he  here  achieved  great  reputation  as  a  writer  on  this 
subject.  Poor  Walsh  was  fatally  injured  in  a  rail- 
road accident,  and  died  deeply  lamented.  He  gave 
me  much  more  credit  for  my  work  in  this  depart- 
ment than  I  was  conscious  of  deserving. 

Mrs.  Mary  Treat,  who  has  acquired  a  fair  fame  in 
the  science,  and  I  exchanged  a  number  of  very  pleas- 
ant letters.  She  is  a  keen  observer  and  a  diligent 
student.  She  has  written  numerous  articles  for  the 
journals  in  a  very  piquant,  attractive  style,  and  her 
researches  into  the  Ants  of  Florida  have  greatly  en- 
hanced her  reputation. 

Hon.  Isaac  Newton,  at  that  time  (1865)  Commis- 
sioner of  Agriculture  at  Washington,  entrusted  to 
my  care  a  number  of  the  eggs  and  cocoons  of  the 
Ailanthus  Silk  Worm,  urging  me  to  come  to  Wash- 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  2 1 3. 

ington  without  delay.  I  reared  the  worms  and  dis- 
tributed the  eggs  very  generally,  but  the  culture  or 
"  education  "  of  this  insect,  as  the  French  call  it, 
was  never  prosecuted  to  any  great  extent  in  this 
country,  which  I  think  was  a  mistake.  This  com- 
mission, of  course,  occasioned  frequent  letters  be- 
tween Mr.  Newton  and  myself,  and  not  a  few  visits 
to  him ;  but  he  was  not  the  man  to  feel  interested  in 
such  a  subject,  and  paid  little  attention  to  it. 

In  the  Reports  of  the  Department  of  Agriculture 
for  1 86 1  and  1862  will  be  found  two  papers  on  the 
"Cultivation  of  the  Ailanthus  Silk  Worm, ' '  for  which 
Mr.  Newton  sent  me  $60.  These  papers  brought  mc 
over  50  letters  from  various  sections  from  Canada  to 
Bermuda.  They  enquired  for  further  information, 
and  not  a  few  of  my  correspondents,  presuming  that 
I  was  a  dealer  in  the  "article,"  sent  orders  for  eggs, 
worms,  cocoons,  and  even  the  seeds  of  the  Ailanthus 
tree.  Even  several  years  after  the  papers  appeared, 
I  received  ' '  orders  ' '  which  have  remained  unfilled 
to  this  day.  I  never  before  got  into  such  a  scrape. 
Not  a  few  of  the  letters  came  from  ladies,  some  of 
which  I  politely  answered.  I  highly  delighted  one 
of  them,  who  had  published  a  volume  of  poems,  by 
quoting  some  of  her  own  lines.  She  complimented 
me  highly  upon  my  cultivation  of  literature  in  con- 
nection with  my  writings  upon  the  Ailanthus  Silk 
Worm,  and  thought  it  an  agreeable  diversion  of 
study.  I  did  not  tell  the  good  lady  that  the  lines  I 
quoted  were  about  all  I  knew  of  her  book.     Brack- 


2  14  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

enridge  Clemens,  of  Easton,  Pa.,  wrote  extensively 
on  Sphingidae  and  Microlepidoptera.  His  work  on 
the  former  family  has  been  accepted  by  all  culti- 
vators of  the  science,  and  by  his  permission  it  was 
transferred  to  my  Synopsis  of  the  North  America 
Lepidoptera.  He  also  kindly  furnished  for  that 
book  the  analytical  table  of  the  families  of  Heter- 
ocera.  This  brought  us  into  lively  correspondence, 
and  I  once  visited  him  at  Easton.  He  died  before 
reaching  middle  age. 

William  Stimpson,  a  young  man  who  did  great 
service  in  Marine  Annelida,  and  died  as  Curator  of 
the  Academy  of  Sciences  at  Chicago,  and  I  were 
very  intimate.  I  first  met  him  in  Washington,  and 
exchanged  many  letters  with  him. 

Townsend  Glover,  a  singular  genius,  for  a  long 
time  entomologist  in  the  National  Department  of 
Agriculture,  was  one  of  my  most  highly  prized 
friends  and  correspondents.  We  saw  each  other 
three  or  four  times  every  year,  and  always  to  my 
advantage.  He  was  a  most  capital  artist,  as  well  as 
naturalist,  and  beautifully  illustrated  several  orders 
of  our  insects. 

That  distinguished  geologist  and  eminent  scholar, 
Principal  Dawson,  of  McGill  College,  Montreal,  and 
I  have  exchanged  some  letters  on  entomology,  in 
which  he  felt  some  interest.  He  asked  me  some 
questions,  which  I  was  fortunately  able  to  answer. 
I  have  frequently  met  him  at  the  meetings  of  the 
American  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Sci- 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  215 

ence.  He  is  the  author  of  "  The  Origin  of  the 
World,"  "Acadia,"  and  of  a  large  number  of  papers 
on  various  classes  of  invertebrate  animals.  He  has 
lately  been  most  worthily  knighted  by  the  Queen  of 
England. 

Benson  J.  Lossing,  the  author  of  a  number  of 
American  historical  works,  biographies,  etc.,  was 
one  of  my  correspondents.  I  had  occasion  to  ask 
him  some  questions,  which  he  politely  answered,  and 
this  led  to  others  from  both  sides.  I  have  met  him 
on  several  occasions ;  once  at  Gettysburg,  where  he 
delivered  an  oration. 

I  find  that  it  will  take  up  too  much  room  to  en- 
large upon  this  subject,  and  hence  will  curtail  my 
remarks.  The  following  gentlemen  have  been  my 
correspondents  for  years:  Prof.  A.  S.  Packard,  now 
of  Brown  (?)  University,  who  has  described  many  of 
our  insects  and  furnished  many  useful  papers  and 
books.  A.  S.  Grote,  now  of  Buffalo,  is  one  of  the 
best  authorities  on  Noctuidae,  who  has  for  more  than 
twenty  years  devoted  all  his  time  to  the  study  of 
that  family,  and  has  achieved  wonderful  success. 
His  writings  are  numerous,  and  eagerly  sought  after 
by  students.  W.  H.  Edwards,  now  of  Coalsburg, 
W.  Va. ,  is  the  author  of  the  most  elegantly  illus- 
trated work  on  our  diurnal  Lepidoptera  ever  pub- 
lished, and  of  numerous  single  papers.  J.  A.  Lint- 
ner,  of  Albany,  a  son  of  my  old  clerical  friend,  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Lintner,  gives  his  exclusive  attention  to 
our  science.     He  is  connected  with  the  New  York 


2l6  LI/E    REMINISCENXES    OF 

State  Museum,  and  has  contributed  valuable  papers 
on  our  fauna. 

Samuel  H.  Scudder,  of  Boston,  is  one  of  the  most 
learned  and  thorough  entomologists  of  the  country, 
and  his  writings  are  highly  prized  by  all  lovers  of 
insect  study.  Wm.  Saunders  and  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Bethune,  of  Canada,  are  intimate  friends  of  mine 
and  valued  correspondents. 

C.  V.  Riley  and  J.  B.  Smith,  of  the  Agricultural 
Bureau,  and  the  Rev.  G.  D.  Hulst,  of  Brooklyn,  and 
many  other  entomologists,  exchanged  frequent  let- 
ters with  me. 

Prof.  A.  J.  Cook,  of  Michigan  University,  Lan- 
sing, Mich. ,  is  the  author  of  a  most  excellent  book  on 
the  Bee.  Years  ago  I  sold  him  some  valuable  Ger- 
man entomological  books,  and  ever  since  I  have  ex- 
changed occasional  letters  with  him.  He  is  also 
distinguished  in  microscopy. 

Herman  Strecker,  of  Reading,  Pa.,  who  has  the 
largest  collection  of  Lepidoptera  in  this  country,  and 
it  may  be  said  the  largest  private  collection  in  the 
world,  has  been  a  valued  correspondent  for  some 
years.  These  and  others  not  mentioned  here  have 
for  years  been  my  correspondents.  Indeed,  there 
have  been  few  leading  entomologists  of  the  country 
with  whom  I  have  not  had  a  greater  or  less  episto- 
lary intercourse.  In  earlier  life  Prof.  C.  B.  Adams, 
a  conchologist  of  high  distinction;  T.  M.  Brewer,  of 
Boston,  the  well  known  oologist;  G.  W.  Fahnestock, 
of  Philadelphia;  Townsend,  Brevoort,  Titian  Peale 
and  others,  were  constant  correspondents. 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  217 

There  is  no  more  proper  place  than  this  to  men- 
tion a  fact  or  two  of  no  great  significance,  but  still  of 
some  small  interest  to  myself.  I  never  met  the  elder 
Audubon  but  once,  and  that  was  in  Baltimore.  I 
remember  his  features  and  manners  very  distinctly, 
but  I  had  little  opportunity  of  conversation  with 
him.  When  in  the  British  Museum  in  1846,  in  Lon- 
don, where  I  had,  through  Doubleday's  influence, 
the  unobstructed  entrance  into  those  departments 
not  open  to  the  public — I  mean  the  working  and 
artists'  rooms — one  of  the  professors  remarked  that 
behind  that  screen — pointing  to  one — I  would  find  a 
fellow  countryman.  I  went,  and  found  one  of  the 
young  Audubons  painting  a  copy  of  an  Arctic  ani- 
mal for  the  Book  on  American  Quadrupeds,  which 
the  brothers  Were  bringing  out.  I  introduced  my- 
self, and  he  received  me  very  politely,  especially 
when  I  told  him  that  I  was  a  good  friend  of  his 
father-in-law,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Bachman,  of  Charleston. 
I  spent  a  pleasant  hour  with  him. 

Some  years  ago  I  undertook  to  make  a  sort  of 
bibliographical  list  of  all  the  writings  of  natives  of 
Maryland,  no  matter  where  they  now  live  or  when 
they  had  written  or  published  their  productions. 
Brantz  Mayer  and  others  aided  me,  and  I  •  was 
compelled  to  go  through  numerous  catalogues  and 
get  information  from  various  quarters.  I  was  also 
obliged  to  write  to  a  number  of  gentlemen  then  re- 
siding elsewhere  for  correct  lists  of  their  writings, 
and  this  brought  me  into  pleasant  relations  with  a 


2l8  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

number  of  first-class  men.  I  continued  the  work 
until  the  matter  was  nearly  exhausted  as  far  as  my 
resources  went,  when  I  gave  all  my  papers  over  to 
the  librarian  of  the  Historical  Library,  who  has 
made  large  additions. 

I  have  among  my  letters  an  autograph  from  Pres- 
ident Fillmore,  who  wrote  to  me  in  response  to  a  re- 
quest of  General  Howard  for  a  speech  of  his,  but  he 
says  he  does  not  remember  having  ever  delivered 
such  a  speech. 

Harris  W.  Hall,  a  literary  character  of  Philadel- 
phia, furnished  me  with  a  list  of  his  own  writings 
and  gave  me  information  about  others;  and  thus  I 
might  go  on  and  mention  a  long  list  of  other  gentle- 
men with  whom  I  exchanged  letters  on  this  specific 
subject. 

I  knew  that  celebrated  bibliophile  and  bibliopole, 
Sabine,  of  New  York,  pretty  well,  and  also  his 
namesake,  of  Boston,  who  wrote  the  "  Loyalists  of 
America. ' '  I  was  of  some  service  to  the  latter  in 
furnishing  him  a  few  items  for  the  second  edition  of 
that  book. 

With  numerous  other  gentlemen,  I  was  invited 
by  that  most  industrious  worker,  the  Rev.  W.  B. 
Sprague,  of  Albany,  to  supply  material  for  his 
book,  ' '  The  Pulpit  of  America. ' '  I  furnished  let- 
ters for  this  book  concerning  Dr.  J.  G.  Schmucker 
and  Dr.  E.  Hazelius,  which  may  be  seen  in  my 
"  Fifty  Years,"  pages  n,  66. 

With  the  gentlemen  at  the  head  of  most  of  the 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  2IQ 

great  libraries  of  the  county  I  had  frequent  corres- 
pondence or  personal  interviews,  such  as  Poole, 
Jewett,  Trumbull,  Spofford,  Saunders,  Schroeder, 
Cogswell,  Vinton,  Sibly  and  others. 

MY    FOREIGN    CORRESPONDENCE. 

This  was  extensive  in  the  course  of  years,  although 
the  number  of  persons  with  whom  I  exchanged  let- 
ters was  not  very  large.  I  should  like  to  say  more 
concerning  some  of  them  than  I  will  have  room  for. 

The  family  of  the  Sturms,  of  Nurnberg,  were  very 
able  correspondents.  The  father  and  two  sons  were 
authors,  artists,  engravers,  printers  and  publishers, 
and  issued  many  beautifully  illustrated  volumes  on 
insects  and  plants,  and  did  all  the  work  themselves. 
After  some  years  of  correspondence  and  active  ex- 
change of  objects,  I  saw  them  at  their  home  in 
Nurnberg,  and  was  delighted  with  their  society.  I 
have  many  of  their  letters.  They  gave  me  many  of 
their  writings. 

Herr  Dunker,  at  first  of  Cassel,  where  I  saw  him, 
and  recently  of  Marburg,  is  one  of  the  great  paleon- 
tologists of  Germany.  Although  I  never  studied 
that  branch,  yet  I  exchanged  many  letters,  particu- 
larly on  American  works  on  that  subject.  I  shall 
never  forget  the  Sunday  I  dined  with  him,  and  the 
company  at  his  table.  He  also  gave  me  a  number 
of  his  writings. 

Herr  Schaeffer,  of  Ratisbon,  was  a  great  writer 
on  Lepidoptera.     I   never  met  him,  but  exchanged 


2  20  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

many  letters  and  specimens.  He  began  to  write 
English  to  me  which  was  not  the  most  idiomatic, 
and  when  I  told  him  he  might  thereafter  write  in 
German  he  was  delighted  beyond  measure.  Some 
of  his  writings  may  be  seen  in  the  Peabody  Library, 
and  show  his  wonderful  learning  in  his  department. 

Mr.  Riehl,  of  Cassel,  with  whom  I  carried  on  an 
active  exchange  and  correspondence  before  I  saw 
him  in  his  own  house  in  1846,  was  a  bachelor,  and 
treasurer  of  some  great  railroad,  and  treated  me 
very  kindly.  Being  with  him  on  Sunday  morning, 
I  told  him  I  was  a  church-going  man,  but  he  would 
not  go  with  me.  I  met  him  at  dinner  on  the  same 
day  at  the  house  of  Prof.  D linker,  where  was  also 
present  the  Oberst-Lieutenant  of  the  Hessian  army, 
who  told  me  that  his  father  had  served  in  the  Hes- 
sian army  against  the  Americans  in  the  war  of  the 
Revolution,  and  moreover,  he  added,  "  My  father 
left  one  of  his  legs  there."  I  remarked  that  his 
father  had  better  stayed  there  himself,  as  many  of 
the  Hessians  did.  "  In  that  case,"  he  replied,  "  I 
would  not  be  the  General  of  the  Hessian  army." 
"True,"  [  rejoined,  "but  if  you  had  been  born 
there  you  might  have  reached  a  higher  position." 
"And  what  is  that?"  he  eagerly  asked.  "You 
might  have  been  President  of  the  United  States," 
I  answered,  but  this  was  something  he  could  not 
understand. 

With  Drs.  Von  dem  Busch,  Schmidt  and  Wilkens, 
of  Bremen,  I  also  had  made  exchanges  before  I  saw 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  221 

them  in  their  own  houses.  The  latter  two  lived  in 
splendid  style  on  ' '  The  Wall, ' '  as  they  call  a  fine 
avenue  there.  The  intelligent  wife  of  one  of  them 
spoke  a  little  English.  They  seemed  surprised 
when  I  refused  to  smoke  in  their  elegantly  furnished 
parlor. 

Profs.  Germar  and  his  nephew,  Schaum,  of  Halle, 
Erichson,  Troschel,  and  Klug,  of  Berlin,  were  fre- 
quent correspondents  of  mine,  all  of  whom,  with 
many  more,  I  subsequently  met  in  their  own 
country. 

It  was  while  I  was  in  Germar's  house  one  day  in 
earnest  conversation  with  him  I  heard  the  singing 
of  a  juvenile  choir  in  the  street,  and  upon  inquiring 
into  the  meaning  of  the  performance,  he  told  me  it 
was  a  company  of  boys  from  a  charity-school  singing 
for  their  support.  The  carrende  years  of  Luther 
came  to  my  mind.  I  hurried  out,  listened  for  a 
moment,  and  then  I  astonished  the  leader  by  put- 
ting into  his  hand  a  Prussian  thaler  note.  Prof. 
Germar  told  me  that  a  few  kreutzers  would  have 
been  enough,  but  I  was  too  full  of  Luther  for  such 
a  trifle. 

Guerin  de  Merreville,  of  Paris,  was  my  principal 
French  correspondent,  and  especially  upon  the 
Ailanthus  Silk  Worm.  He  gave,  or  afterwards 
sent,  me  all  his  writings  on  this  subject,  and  besides 
speaks  in  exalted  terms  of  my  Synopsis  of  North 
American  Lepidoptera  in  his  Magazine  of  Zoology. 
When  I  saw  Guerin  afterwards  in  Paris  I  found  he 


222  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

could  not  speak  a  word  of  English  or  German,  but 
we  got  along  pretty  well  with  my  imperfect  French. 
I  found  him  on  the  fifth  story  of  a  very  large  apart- 
ment house.     I  presume  he  was  a  bachelor. 

Mr.  W.  Doubleday,  of  the  British  Museum,  was  a 
valued  correspondent  for  several  years  before  I  met 
him  in  London  in  1846.  He  was  the  most  American 
Englishman  I  ever  encountered,  and  he  told  me  that 
if  he  had  a  self-sustaining  position  he  would  settle  in 
the  United  States  without  delay. 

When  I  entered  that  department  of  the  Museum 
in  which  he  was  engaged,  and  inquired  for  him  of  a 
person  whom  I  saw,  and  gave  him  to  understand 
that  I  was  an  American,  he  said,  "  You  will  find 
Doubleday  more  of  an  American  than  an  English- 
man. "  "I  admire  his  taste, ' '  I  remarked,  and  the 
man  smiled.  I  spent  many  pleasant  hours  with 
Doubleday.      He  died  a  few  years  afterwards. 

I  exchanged  letters  with  a  number  of  other  scien- 
tific men  in  Europe ;  many  of  their  letters  will  be 
found  in  my  various  collections. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

the;  diets,  and  academy  of  Lutheran  church  history  in 
america — answers  to  questions — ministers'  league — 
preaching  in  strange  pulpits— good  advice  from 
members — evangewcal,  alliance — fltedner,  of  kai- 
serswerth — consubstantiation. 

For  several  years  before  the  first  Diet  was  held, 
in  1877,  there  had  been  much  discussion  in  the  most 
of  our  Church  papers  on  the  expediency  of  holding 
what  was  called  a  Colloquium,  to  which  all  Luther- 
ans were  to  be  invited.  The  design  was  to  discuss 
amicably  those  points  on  which  the  several  sections 
of  the  Church  were  presumed  to  differ,  particularly 
the  teachings  of  the  symbols  on  the  nature  of  the 
real  presence  in  the  Lord's  Supper,  altar  and  pulpit 
fellowship  with  the  denominations  around  us,  secret 
societies,  and  so  on. 

On  all  other  points  there  was  no  difference,  or  at 
least  none  which  divided  us. 

Any  one  who  desires  to  learn  the  history  of  this 
protracted  controversy  must  consult  the  Lutheran 
and  Missionary  of  that  period,  Der  Lutheraner,  of 
the  Missourians,  Die  LutlieriscJie  Zeitschrift,  and 
other  Church  papers.  The  Observer  took  no  active 
part  in  the  controversy,  but  was  contented  to  furnish 
(223) 


224  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

its  readers  with  occasionally  a  general  view  of  the 
field  of  battle  and  the  utterances  of  the  most  dis- 
tinguished warriors. 

There  was  a  display  of  much  theological  learning, 
of  ancient  and  modern  church  history,  of  logical 
acumen,  of  narrow-minded  sectarianism,  and,  in 
many  instances,  of  bitterness  and  rancor.  It  was 
amusing  to  see  that  good  and  amiable  brother, 
Brobst,  making  his  politest  bow  to  the  Missourians, 
and  burning  the  most  fragrant  incense  in  their  nos- 
trils, and  acknowledging  his  most  hearty  acquies- 
cence in  their  theology,  yet  spurned  from  their 
presence  and  derided  for  his  inconsistency  merely 
because  he  belonged  to  the  "heretical"  Synod  of 
Pennsylvania.  It  was  no  matter  to  the  Missourians 
how  thoroughly  orthodox  a  man  might  be  in  Luth- 
eran theology,  yet  if  he  did  not  adopt  their  procrus- 
tean  practice,  and  come  out  from  all  Church  associ- 
ations, he  was  utterly  condemned  and  repudiated. 

The  Iowans  were  a  little  more  liberal,  for  they 
consented  to  maintain  a  sort  of  step-sisterly  connec- 
tion with  the  General  Council  by  sending  delegates ; 
but  they  have  not  as  yet  united  with  it,  nor  will  they 
until  the  Council  abandons  some  of  the  notions  and 
practices  which  it  has  derived  from  American  train- 
ing or  European  unionism. 

There  was  no  prospect  of  a  settlement  of  these 
differences,  and  it  was  thought  by  some  that  a  gen- 
eral Colloquium  would  heal  all  difficulties  by  recon- 
ciling all  parties.     It  was  considered  the  grand  pan- 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  225 

acea  for  the  Church's  sores.  Some  men  on  both 
sides  were  in  favor  of  it.  Even  the  Council  as  a 
body  seemed  inclined  towards  it,  and  made  certain 
propositions  to  the  General  Synod,  which  the  latter 
body  rejected,  and  decided  it  was  not  best  to  hold 
such  a  meeting,  presuming  that  the  desired  result 
would  not  be  attained.  This  was  done  at  the  meet- 
ing of  1875,  in  Baltimore,  Md. 

This  settled  the  question  of  a  Colloquium.  It  was 
then  I  proposed  to  hold  a  Diet,  hoping  that  in  the 
course  of  time,  and  by  the  annual  assembling  of  men 
of  all  schools,  and  the  discussion  of  subjects  of  gen- 
eral interest,  asperities  might  be  softened,  doctrinal 
differences  adjusted,  and  personal  estrangements 
reconciled.  I  called  it  Diet,  and  not  Congress,  Con- 
vention or  anything  else,  because  it  was  a  new  term 
in  modern  church  language,  and  because  it  was  ap- 
propriate. The  name  pleased  everybody.  The 
question  now  was  to  bring  it  about.  To  refer  it  to 
Synods  I  knew  would  occasion  endless  differences 
as  to  time,  place,  persons  and  everything.  To  con- 
sult a  large  number  of  men  individually  would 
require  immense  correspondence  and  labor,  and 
would  result  in  no  uniformity  of  opinion.  To  call  a 
large  meeting  was  inexpedient,  troublesome  and 
useless.  After  having  ascertained  the  opinions  of 
some  influential  men  of  various  sections  as  to  the 
expediency  of  the  measure,  and  having  published 
some  of  them  in  the  Observer,  and  received  favor- 
able responses  through  this  and  other  papers, 
i5 


2  26  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

I  concluded  that  the  Church  was  ripe  for  the  move- 
ment. Some  good  men  were  doubtful  of  its  suc- 
cess, as  they  are  about  everything  that  is  new,  but 
even  these  finally  approved  of  it  when  they  saw  the 
programme  adopted  and  the  expression  of  the  very 
general  favorable  opinion.  Having  thus  secured  a 
favorable  public  sentiment,  I  then  consulted  Dr, 
Seiss,  and  we  agreed  to  take  the  responsibility  of 
selecting  the  time,  place,  subjects  of  discussion, 
essayists,  officers,  rules — in  a  word,  the  entire  and 
exclusive  management  of  the  whole  affair.  We 
apprehended  some  opposition,  but  we  disarmed  it  by 
making  it  plain  that  this  was  the  only  way,  under 
the  circumstances,  that  the  Diet  could  be  brought 
about.  Our  men,  whose  opinion  was  worth  hearing, 
were  satisfied,  and  we  have  never  heard  of  any  com- 
plaint, publicly.  So  well  satisfied  was  the  Diet  with 
our  management  that  we  were  appointed  by  the  body 
to  make  arrangements  for  holding  the  second  and 
the  third.  The  Doctor  and  I  went  to  work,  and 
nearly  the  whole  of  it  devolved  on  me,  for  having  no 
pastoral  charge  at  the  time  I  had  more  leisure.  I 
wrote  more  than  forty  letters  and  cards  concerning 
the  first  Diet,  and  perhaps  more  for  the  second.  We 
selected  the  subjects  and  the  essayists,  and  I  an- 
nounced them.  Nearly  all  promptly  accepted.  We 
had  not  much  difficulty  in  agreeing  upon  the  themes 
and  men.  Each  of  us  proposed  a  certain  number, 
and  the  exchange  of  a  few  letters  settled  any  diffi- 
culties.    We   yielded   mutually.      Dr.    Seiss   and   I 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  227 

through  life  have  been  warm  friends,  and  worked 
harmoniously  or  differed  gracefully.  The  difficulty 
was  in  adapting  subjects  to  certain  men,  but  we 
finally  succeeded,  to  the  general  satisfaction  of  the 
parties.  A  few  objected  to  the  themes  selected  for 
them,  and  in  one  or  two  cases  we  made  a  change : 
but  generally  they  acquiesced.  What  determined 
our  selection  of  some  men  in  preference  to  others  of 
equal  claims  and  rights  was  location,  synodical  rela- 
tion, ecclesiastical  influence  and  personal  considera- 
tions. We  soon  heard  from  various  quarters  that 
offence  was  given  because  certain  first-class  men 
were  overlooked.  This  we  expected,  but  we  had 
determined  not  to  enter  upon  any  public  defense  of 
our  conduct,  for  we  were  well  aware  that  some 
would  be  displeased  no  matter  who  would  be  pre- 
ferred. One  of  the  English  papers  of  the  General 
Synod  opened  upon  us,  and  charged  us  with  sectional 
partiality,  and  (the  editor)  declared  that  "  he  would 
have  nothing  to  do  with  the  Diet,"  and  he  never 
has.  had  since;  and  let  me  gently  add  that  the 
Church,  has  had,  for  five  or  six  years,  very  little  to 
do  with  or  for  him.  A  German  editor  of  the  Gen- 
eral Synod,  apprehending  perhaps  a  failure  of  the 
enterprise,  and  wishing  to  clear  himself  of  responsi- 
bility in  advance,  gravely  told  his  readers  that  he 
"  had  nothing  to  do  with  getting  up  the  Diet,"  and 
he  never  will  have !  1 !  But  he  spoke  kindly  of  it  after 
it  had  been  held  and  had  become  an  acknowledged 
success.     Of  course  the  papers  in  the  Missouri  inter- 


228  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

est  did  not  speak  favorably  of  it,  but  they  had  no 
influence  outside  their  own  circle. 

To  our  surprise  and  gratification  one  hundred  min- 
isters and  theological  students  attended  the  first 
meeting,  although  it  was  held  between  Christmas 
and  New  Year.  And  the  result  is  before  the 
Church ! ! ! 

I  have  kept  a  large  number  of  the  newspaper  arti- 
cles which  were  published  upon  the  subject,  and 
they  are  nearly  all  commendatory,  reflecting  the 
general  opinion  of  our  influential  and  thoughtful 
men.*  The  arrangements  for  the  second  Diet  were 
very  like  those  for  the  first,  most  of  the  labor  for 
which  I  also  performed.  This  also  was  a  success, 
as  we  hope  all  those  to  come  may  be. 

Full  reports  of  the  proceedings  were  made  by  the 
daily  papers  of  Philadelphia,  which  were  copied  into 
several  of  our  own  Church  journals  and  widely  read. 
Five  or  six  leading  papers  of  other  denominations 
gave  large  space  to  the  proceedings,  and  spoke  very 
favorably  of  us.  All  the  papers  read  at  the  Diets, 
accompanied  with  the  remarks  of  others  present, 
were  published  in  neat  volumes. 

A  new  feature  was  introduced  into  the  second 
Diet.  Two  "speakers"  were  appointed  to  follow 
each  essayist,  so  that  we  might  be  certain  of  having 
the  matured  thought  of  three  competent  men  at 
least  upon  every  theme. 

*  Preserved  in  the  Archives  of  the  Lutheran  Historical  Society 
in  the  Seminary  at  Gettysburg,  Pa. 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  229 

The  fault  of  both  meetings  was  that  the  number 
of  essays  was  too  large,  the  essays  too  long,  for  most 
of  them  exceeded  the  prescribed  forty-five  minutes, 
and  consequently  the  time  was  too  short  for  the  dis- 
cussion. The  following  communication  written  by 
me,  which  appeared  in  the  Observer,  gives  a  fair 
exhibition  of  the  first  meeting : 

IMPRESSIONS    OF    THE    DIET. 

I  never  saw  a  more  happy,  I  may  say,  jubilant  company  of 
men  than  on  the  close  of  the  first  day  of  the  meeting.  Every 
one  saw  that  the  experiment  was  a  complete  success,  and  hearty 
congratulations  were  exchanged  all  round.  Men  of  different 
synods,  schools  arid  tendencies  greeted  each  other  with  the 
heartiest  hand-shaking,  and  joyous  smiles  beamed  on  every 
face. 

The  first  session  was  opened  with  some  apprehension  :  it  was 
not  known  whether  half  of  the  essayists  had  arrived ;  it  was 
feared  that  sufficient  notice  had  not  been  given;  it  was  un- 
certain whether  even  the  neighboring  ministers  would  be 
present;  it  was  known  that  some  worthy  men  were  not  satisfied 
with  the  arrangement;  but  when  in  the  course  of  the  morning 
our  rural  brethren  were  seen  coming  in  by  dozens,  many  intelli- 
gent laymen  taking  their  seats,  and  many  ladies  gracing  the 
church  by  their  presence,  all  apprehensions  vanished,  and  we 
began  in  our  hearts  to  sing  the  Gloria  in  excelsis !  and  when, 
at  the  end  of  the  second  day  the  names  of  precisely  one  hun- 
dred Lutheran  ministers  were  recorded  as  present,  it  was  hard 
to  subdue  a  very  emphatic  expression  of  Bless  the  Lord,  0  my 
soul  / 

I  have  not  taken  the  trouble  to  ascertain  how  many  synods 
were  represented,  but  I  can  easily  determine  ten,  and  probably 
there  were  more,  and  this  shows  that  the  conjectures  of  some 


230 


LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 


of  our  friends  that  Christmas  week  was  an  unseasonable  time, 
were  unfounded.  You  could  not  collect  a  larger  number  of 
ministers,  paying  their  own  expenses  of  travel  and  entertain- 
ment, at  any  other  season.  Philadelphia,  too,  was  just  the 
place,  for  there  are  over  300  Lutheran  ministers  within  three 
hours'  distance. 

This  meeting  has  disappointed  two  classes  of  men:  first,  that 
class  which  was  not  favorable  to  it.  They  have  no  doubt  bit 
their  nails  in  holy  ire,  and  will  take  their  vengeance  on  us  by 
depreciating  its  character,  and  will  make  ugly  faces  at  its 
"  uuionistic  "  tendencies.  The  other  class  are  those  who  were 
fearful  of  a  failure  as  to  the  number  of  attendants  and  lack  of 
interest.  They  have  been  most  agreeably  disappointed,  and 
have  joined  with  us  in  the  exclamation,  Lans  Deo. 

Most  of  us  have  heard  of  dissatisfaction  in  various  quarters, 
but  nothing  more  will  be  said  011  that  point.  We  could  not  do 
otherwise  in  this  first  Diet.  We  could  not  make  it  general  ;  it 
was  intended  to  be  territorial,  and  not  universal.  It  was 
thought  that  men  from  a  great  distance  could  not  come  at  their 
own  expense.  It  was  not  certain  whether  even  those  near  at 
hand  would  make  it  a  success.  We  could  not  possibly  select 
more  than  a  small  number  of  essayists,  not  because  of  a  paucity 
of  men,  but.  because  we  could  not  protract  this  first  Diet  longer 
than  three  days;  but  why  other  m^xx  were  not  chosen  in  place 
of  those  on  the  programme  is  not  for  me  to  say.  It  is  thought 
they  were  all  competent  men;  but  knownng  that  even  these 
good  reasons  why  some  other  men  were  not  selected  will  not 
satisfy  them,  I  had  better  say  nothing  more  about  it.  I  might 
get  myself  into  a  difficulty. 

There  never  was  a  meeting  held  in  our  Church  in  which  more 
respectful  feeling,  more  tender  regard  for  the  opinions  of  others, 
more  fraternal  sentiment,  were  displayed  than  in  this.  There 
was  not  an  unkind  word  uttered  from  beginning  to  end.  There 
was  an  utter  absence  of  all  harshness  of  expression  or  show  of 
fretfulness.  There  were  not  even  signs  of  impatience  or  any 
evidences  of  disappointment.     The  fullest  liberty  of  speech  was 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  23I 

allowed  and  indulged,  and  very  strongly  divergent  views  were 
expressed,  but  everything  was  said  and  done  in  the  kindest, 
most  gentlemanly  spirit.  The  most  decided  Lutheran  doctrines 
were  maintained  by  some  men  of  the  General  Synod;  the  most 
ultra  pulpit  and  altar  exclusiveness  was  advocated  by  some  men 
of  the  Council ;  the  very  highest  confessional  standpoint  was 
assumed  by  some  of  both  bodies -and  whilst  lively  discussion 
grew  out  of  all,  yet  there  was  no  acerbity  of  feeling,  but  on  the 
contrary  the  most  amiable  temper  and  mutual  respect  displayed 
all  through. 

Profound  research,  patient  investigation  and  thorough  scholar- 
ship were  shown  in  most  of  the  essays,  equaling  in  all  these 
qualities  according  to  the  judgment  of  a  competent  critic 
present,  those  of  the  Episcopal  Congress  ami.  of  the  recent 
Alliance  at  Detroit. 

The  discussions  also  brought  out  much  talent  and  mental 
acuteness.  There  was  no  attempt  at  making  speeches — that 
would  have  been  out  of  place — but  there  was  hard  logic,  forcible 
reasoning,  ardent  feeling,  occasionally  enlivened  by  smart 
repartee  and  flashes  of  genuine  wit.  Indeed,  such  was  the  pre- 
vailing good  humer  of  the  house  that  the  president  was  com- 
pelled more  than  once  to  subdue  the  demonstration  of  hilarious 
mirth. 

It  was  a  grand  occasiou.  So  well  pleased  were  the  men  that 
they  were  reluctant  to  vote  a  final  adjournment,  and  no  wonder 
that  a  committee  was  demanded  to  make  arrangements  for 
another  Diet.  We  have  some  experience  now;  we  shall  bz  able 
to  avoid  some  errors  in  future.  I  do  not  mean  that  our  selec- 
tions hereafter  will  give  more  satisfaction,  for  we  cannot  choose 
everybody,  and  unless  wre  do  some  will  consider  themselves  u?i- 
appreciated  and  complain  through  their  friends,  as  heretofore. 
One  of  the  men  stated  that  wherever  four  Germans  met  there 
were  Jive  opinions;  I  have  sometimes  thought  that  it  was  pretty 
much  the  case  with  us,  the  descendants  of  Germans;  for  we  find 
a  fearfully  harassing  discord  of  opinion  as  to  who  should  be 
selected  to  read  papers  at  a  Lutheran  Diet;  but  let  the  commit- 


232  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

tee  do  their  duty  fearlessly,  and  the  majority  of  us  will  be  sat- 
isfied even  if  our  names  should  not  be  on  the  list. 

The  expediency  of  a  third  .Diet  was  much  spoken 
of  in  some  circles,  but  there  was  no  hearty  acquies- 
cence among  some  leading  men  outside  of  the  Gen- 
eral Synod.  A  few  of  them  did  not  attend  either  of 
the  previous  Diets,  and  one  reason  was  that  they 
have  no  confidence  in  our  Lutheran  orthodoxy  and 
will  not  associate  with  us  ecclesiastically.  I  really 
believe,  however,  that  one  reason  for  the  indiffer- 
ence of  others  of  the  Council  to  a  third  Diet  was 
that  they  were  wearied  to  exhaustion  by  the  inter- 
minable theological  discussions  at  the  meetings  of 
their  Synods,  and  did  not  desire  a  repetition  of  it. 
That  feature  has  now  been  removed,  but  that  is  a 
recent  event,  and  they  have  not  recovered  from  the 
fatigues  of  a  few  years  ago. 

Here  will  appropriately  come  in  a  notice  of  the 

ACADEMY    OF    LUTHERAN    CHURCH    HISTORY    IN    THE 
UNITED    STATES. 

This  is  one  of  my  creations,  which  at  once  secured 
the  approbation  of  all  our  ministers  whose  opinions 
are  worth  anything.  I  called  my  good  friend,  the 
Rev.  Dr.  B.  Sadtler,  especially  into  consultation, 
and  had  informal  conversations  with  other  ministers 
in  Baltimore  and  elsewhere  in  whose  judgment  and 
church  loyalty  I  had  any  confidence. 

The  result  was  the  following,  as  copied  from  an 
article  to  the  Observer  of  September  12,  1894: 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  233 

A    LUTHERAN    HISTORICAL    ACADEMY    FORMED. 

At  St.  Mark's  Lutheran  church  in  Baltimore,  Md.,  last  week, 
an  organization  for  the  "Cultivation  and  Promotion  of  Studies 
in  the  History  of  the  Lutheran  Church  and  her  Missions,"  was 
formed.  This  organization  is  a  result  attained  through  the 
personal  efforts  of  Rev.  J.  G.  Morris,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  and  we  may 
truly  call  him  father  of  it.  A  constitution  was  adopted  and 
officers  elected.  Dr.  Morris  was  chosen  president,  and  Dr.  F.  Ph. 
Hennighausen  secretary  and  treasurer.  The  vice-presidents 
are  Prof.  Wackernagel,  Dr.  Edw.  T.  Horn,  of  Charleston,  S.  C, 
Prof.  Graebner,  St.  Louis,  and  Dr.  Sweusson,  President  of  Beth- 
any College,  Lindsborg,  Kans.  The  Council  is  composed  of  the 
officers  of  the  Academy  and  the  following  persons:  Dr.  E.  J. 
Wolf,  of  Gettysburg;  Dr.  Sadtler,  of  Baltimore;  Dr.  Seiss,  of 
Philadelphia,  and  Rev.  C.  F.  Dallman,  of  Baltimore. 

The  following  persons  participated  in  the  organization:  Drs. 
Morris,  Hennighausen,  Miller,  Sadtler,  Studebaker,  Hartman, 
Scholl,  and  Revs.  Felton,  Schmidt,  Dallman,  Zimmerman  and 
Garland,  of  Baltimore,  with  Prof.  Turner,  of  Lutherville,  Dr. 
Yonce,  of  Roanoke,  and  Rev.  Hartman,  of  Altoona. 

Thirty-nine  others  of  the  Lutheran  Church  in  America,  hav- 
ing sent  in  their  assurance  of  interest  and  co-operation  in  the 
work  and  their  willingness  to  aid  the  movement  in  every  way 
possible,  were  duly  elected  members  of  the  Academy. 

The  next  meeting  of  the  Academy  will  be  held  in  Philadel- 
phia about  Easter.  Announcement  of  exact  date  will  be  made 
later.  An  initiation  fee  of  twenty-five  cents  was  fixed.  Any 
person  belonging  to  the  Lutheran  church  may  become  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Academy  upon  the  payment  of  this  fee.  The  appli- 
cant is  to  be  nominated  by  some  member  of  the  Council.  The 
design  of  the  Academy  carries  it  above  any  distinctions  which 
may  be  found  amongst  Lutherans.  Its  purpose  is  purely  his- 
torical, and  in  the  interests  of  the  entire  Church  in  America— 
the  Church  of  the  Reformation.  It  is  therefore  hoped  that  all 
differences  will  be  forgotten  in  the  co-operation  and  prosecution 
of  the  work  of  this  Historical  Academy  of  the  Lutheran  Church. 


234  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

A  Constitution  was  adopted,  and  I  immediately 
proceeded  to  solicit  contributors  of  papers  to  be  read 
at  the  first  meeting  in  Philadelphia.  Some  declined 
for  various  reasons,  some  promised  conditionally, 
but  a  sufficient  number  to  make  up  a  first-class  pro- 
gramme promised  and  kept  their  word.  We  met  on 
Wednesday  morning  of  Easter  week,  1894,  in  the 
lecture-room  of  Dr.  Seiss'  church,  and  about  eighty 
ministers  and  theological  students  and  others  were 
present  during  the  first  session.     The  papers  were : 

1.  Sources  of  information  concerning  the  history 
of  the  Lutheran  Church  in  this  country,  by  myself. 

2.  The  education  of  ministers  by  private  tutors 
before  the  establishment  of  theological  seminaries, 
by  the  Rev.  Dr.  B.  Sadtler. 

3.  The  influence  of  language  in  modifying  the 
early  history  of  the  Lutheran  Church  in  the  city  of 
New  York,  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  J.  Nicum. 

4.  The  English  Hymnology  of  the  Lutheran 
Church  in  America,  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  M.  Sheeleigh. 

5.  The  early  history  of  the  Lutheran  Church  in 
Reading,  Pa.,  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Fry. 

6.  The  influence  of  rationalism  in  the  Lutheran 
Church  of  America,  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  G.  F.  Spieker. 

7.  The  causes  of  the  extinction  of  Lutheranism  in 
the  Swedish  Lutheran  churches  on  the  Delaware,  by 
the  Rev.  S.  E.  Ochsenford. 

8.  The  Economics  of  the  Lutheran  Church  in 
America,  by  the  Rev.  Prof.  Graebner  (read  by  proxy). 

There  were  other  papers  on  the  programme,  but  the 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  235 

writers  were  not  present.  The  meeting  was  con- 
sidered a  success,  and  we  resolved  to  meet  again 
next  year,  1895. 

The  second  meeting  of  the  Academy  was  held  in 
the  same  place  as  the  first  on  Tuesday  and  Wednes- 
day, April  16  and  17,  1895. 

Omitting  all  preliminaries  and  incidentals,  which 
may  be  learned  from  the  Church  papers  of  the  time, 
I  will  proceed  to  give  the  programme,  which  will 
interest  more  readers  than  other  routine  details : 

1.  The  history  of  local  churches  urged  upon  pas- 
tors, by  J.  G.  M. 

2.  The  history  of  the  educational  work  of  the 
Kansas  Conference  of  the  Augustana  Synod,  by  the 
Rev.  C.  A.  Swensson  (read  by  proxy). 

3.  The  significance  of  the  Lutheran  Church  for 
Christianity,  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  J.  B.  Remensnyder. 

4.  Early  history  of  the  Lutheran  Church  in 
Georgia,  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  D.  M.  Gilbert. 

5.  The  early  history  of  Charles  Porterfield  Krauth, 
by  the  Rev.  Dr.  A.  Spaeth. 

6.  Deaconess  work  in  America,  by  the  Rev.  Dr. 
G.  U.  Wenner. 

7.  Pennsylvania  and  the  Lutheran  Church  in  the 
seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries,  by  the  Rev. 
Theo.  Schmauk. 

8.  What  an  American  saw  in  Scandinavian  coun- 
tries, by  the  Rev.  Dr.  M.  W.  Hamma. 

9.  Shadow  of  Luther  in  the  Orient,  by  the  Rev. 
Dr.  W.  E.  Parson. 


236  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

10.  Missourianism  in  Germany,  by  the  Rev.  H. 
Walker. 

11.  Lutheran  bishops  of  Denmark  invited  to  con- 
secrate bishops  for  Episcopal  churches  in  America, 
by  the  Rev.  F.  P.  Manhart. 

12.  Liturgies  and  set  forms  of  worship,  by  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Seiss. 

' '  The  presentation  of  this  program, ' '  writes  the 
Secretary  in  the  Observer,  "  is  sufficient  evidence  to 
show  the  reader  of  this  report  that  the  meeting  could 
not  have  been  anything  but  profitable  and  interest- 
ing. The  large  number  who  were  present  showed 
the  appreciation  of  the  matter  presented  by  the 
closest  attention  from  beginning  to  end.  There  is 
no  doubt  of  the  fact  that  these  meetings  will  become 
more  and  more  interesting  from  year  to  year.  That 
was  a  happy  idea  of  the  venerable  President  to  in- 
augurate the  movement,  since  it  affords  Lutherans 
an  abundant  opportunity  to  learn  more  of  the  history 
of  the  Church,  and  to  appreciate  the  potent  influ- 
ence of  the  Church  as  brought  out  in  her  rich  history 
of  nearly  three  centuries  in  America. ' ' 

ANSWERS    TO    QUESTIONS. 

My  judgment  on  various  points  of  church  order 
and  law  has  often  been  asked,  and  only  because,  I 
presume,  some  people  think  I  have  some  knowledge 
in  such  matters  from  long  experience,  for  I  have  no 
claims  upon  the  character  of  a  church  lawyer. 

The  Council  of  a  country  church  unceremoniously 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  237 

voted  the  minister  out,  and  some  of  the  members 
applied  to  me  for  my  opinion  on  the  proceeding-, 
which  I  gave  as  follows,  and  published  it  in  the 
Observer  January,  1880: 

CAN    A    CHURCH    COUNCIL    DISMISS    A    MINISTER  ? 

A  few  weeks  ago  the  above  question  was  sent  to  me  by  a  lay- 
man of  one  of  our  Maryland  country  churches,  which  I  an- 
swered substantially  in  the  following  way: 

He  put  me  to  some  disadvantage  by  not  informing  me 
whether  such  an  act  had  really  been  done,  or  was  contemplated; 
nor  did  he  tell  me  where  it  had  occurred,  nor  did  he  say  a  word 
about  the  constitution  of  the  church,  nor  of  the  character  and 
conduct  of  the  minister  ;  but  he  simply  put  the  naked  question 
to  me,  and  I  replied  accordingl}-.     I  said: 

1.  If  the  constitution  of  your  church  gives  the  right  to  the 
council  exclusively  to  elect  the  minister,  then  they  have  the 
right  to  dismiss  him  after  due  trial,  for  they  are  virtually  his 
only  constituents. 

2.  If  the  congregation,  however,  voted  to  discharge  the  min- 
ister, it  becomes  the  duty  and  business  of  the  council  to  execute 
the  sentence  by  informing  him  of  it  officially;  but  in  this  case 
they  would  only  be  the  agents  of  the  congregation,  and  hence 
it  would  not  be  their  exclusive  act. 

3.  If  the  congregation  universally  had  become  dissatisfied 
with  the  minister,  and  no  longer  attended  the  services,  and 
withheld  their  support,  and  yet  did  not  wish  to  eject  him  by 
vote,  but  feeling  that  the  welfare  of  the  church  demanded  his 
removal,  then  the  council  might,  by  universal  consent  of  the 
church,  advise  him  to  retire;  but  they  would  have  no  right  per- 
emptorily to  send  him  away.  Even  locking  the  church  against 
him,  or  renting  the  parsonage  to  some  one  who  might  issue  a 
writ  of  ejectment,  would  be  unlawful  and  revolutionary,  as  I 
will  presently  show. 


238  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

WHAT    WERE    MY    REASONS  ? 

1.  I  presumed,  of  course,  that  the  church  or  congregatiou 
elected  the  man,  and  they  alone  had  the  po^er  to  compel  him  to 
leave.  You  might  as  well  maintain  that  the  commissioners  or 
orphans'  courts  or  any  other  county  officers,  have  a  right  to 
dismiss  the  sheriff  or  any  other  officer  elected  by  the  people. 

2.  The  council  is  elected  to  discharge  certain  duties  prescribed 
in  church  constitutions  and  in  our  Formula  of  Government,  but 
no  authority  is  given  to  them  over  the  person  of  the  minister. 
See  Formula,  Chap.  III.,  Sec.  6,  and  Chap.  IV. 

3.  No  minister  can  be  dismissed  by  the  congregation,  even 
much  less  by  the  council  for  any  cause,  without  giving  him  an 
opportunity  of  defense.     See  Form.,  Chap.  XII. 

4.  Even  if  the  minister  had  behaved  badly,  or  if  his  useful- 
ness were  at  an  end  and  the  church  were  declining,  and  it  were 
extremely  desirable  to  employ  another  minister,  not  even  in 
that  case,  nor  in  any  other  conceivable  case,  has  the  council  the 
exclusive  right  to  discharge  him. 

4.  No  minister  who  has  been  regularly  elected  can  be  dis- 
charged without  a  majority  vote  of  those  entitled  to  vote,  and 
hence  the  council  has  really  as  such  nothing  to  do  with  it. 

5.  If  any  complaints  damaging  to  the  minister  are  made  to 
the  council,  or  if  they  themselves  make  the  charges,  he  must 
be  cited  and  tried  and  found  guilty,  before  any  action  for  his 
dismissal  can  be  lawful.     See  Form.,  XII. 

6.  Even  if  the  minister  is  tried  and  condemned  by  the  coun^ 
cil,  their  action  is  not  final  until  he  has  had  an  opportunity  of 
being  heard  by  the  synod  to  which  he  may  appeal.  Form., 
III.,  6.  The  synod  has  no  right  to  compel  a  church  to  retain  a 
minister,  but  it  claims  the  privilege  of  examining  accusations 
against  him  and  vindicating  his  rights  when  they  are  assailed. 
The  congregation  may  keep  him  or  not,  but  the  council  alone 
has  no  right  either  to  reject  or  retain  him. 

7.  A  council  has  no  right  to  hold  a  church  meeting  relating 
to  church  discipline  or  government  without  the  presence  of  a 
minister.     Form.,  IV  ,  3. 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER,  239 

8.  No  minister  dismissed  by  a  council  without  law  or  pre- 
cedent, should  submit  to  such  an  oppressive  decision,  but 
appeal  to  the  church  or  united  parish  which  elected  him,  even 
if  the  combined  councils  of  the  parish  agreed  in  his  dismission. 
If  the  united  congregations  sustained  the  action  of  the  councils, 
then  perhaps  he  had  better  retire,  but  of  his  own  voluntary  act. 
But  if  the  congregations  stood  up  for  him  against  the  councils, 
or  any  one  of  them,  let  him  hold  on  and  have  these  disturbers 
of  the  peace  turned  out  at  the  next  election. 

The  act  of  a  council  in  turning  away  a  minister  is  an  unwar- 
ranted presumption  and  tyrannous  persecution.  Such  men  dis- 
grace the  office  to  which  they  have  been  been  unfortunately 
elected,  and  they  should  be  resisted  to  the  utmost.  At  the  same 
time  I  will  say  that  I  would  lose  my  respect  for  any  minister  or 
congregation  that  would  tamely  submit  to  such  oppression  on 
the  part  of  the  council. 

I  do  not  know  whether  my  answer  pleased  the  questioner,  as 
I  have  not  heard  from  him.  Perhaps  he  was  a  member  of  the 
usurping  council,  and  no  wonder  he  did  not  answer. 

I  presume  that  most  ministers  of  any  influence  are 
sometimes  asked  for  advice  on  professional  subjects 
by  others  than  their  own  church  members. 

A  very  respectable  minister,  who  I  had  reason  to 
think  did  not  like  me  personally,  yet  had  some  re- 
spect for  my  judgment  in  some  matters,  came  to  me 
once,  even  before  I  was  out  of  bed  (it  was  in  the 
country,  during  a  meeting  of  ministers).  He  had 
just  received  notice  that  the  title  of  "  D.  D. "  had 
been  conferred  upon  him  by  a  college  of  sixth  grade 
and  not  of  our  Church.  He  was  evidently  gratified 
at  this  mark  of  appreciation,  but  still  thought  that 
he  deserved  notice  from  a  higher  source,  which  was 


240  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

true.  He  was  uncertain  whether  he  should  accept, 
because  an  acceptance  would  debar  him  from  a  similar 
recognition  from  one  of  our  own  more  influential  col- 
leges. I  advised  him  to  decline  the  proffered  honor, 
and  gave  him  good  reasons.  I  do  not  know  whether 
he  took  m)T  advice,  but  he  is  called  Doctor,  and 
many  think  he  is  entitled  to  it,  and  the  result  is  he 
has  never" been  thus  honored  by  any  of  our  institu- 
tions, though  his  name  has  been  proposed. 

I  will  select  another  instance  of  a  queer  character. 
The  deacon  of  a  church  in  a  western  State  asked  for 
advice  in  the  following  case :  The  parish  is  composed 
of  four  churches,  and  all  the  Councils  form  a  joint 
body.  The  pastor  resigned  at  one  of  the  joint  meet- 
ings, without  previously  announcing  his  reason  for 
calling  the  meeting,  and  his  resignation  was  ac- 
cepted. He  then  recommended  his  successor,  and 
said  ' '  he  would  wait  for  his  back  pay  if  we  took  his 
man ;  if  not,  we  would  have  to  pay  him  every  cent 
before  he  would  let  us  call  another  pastor. "  "  The 
Joint  Council  sent  his  man,a  call  then  and  there.  .  .  . 
He  accepted  and  is  now  here.  Now  some  refuse  to 
support  him,  claiming  that  the  call  was  not  legal, 
because  the  Councils  elected  him  instead  of  the  con- 
gregations. ' ' 

"  There  is  another  point  on  which  we  want  your 
judgment.  If  three  of  our  churches  elect  a  pastor, 
and  one  rejects  him,  can  the  three  compel  the  oppos- 
ing church  to  accept  and  help  to  pay  him  ? ' ' 

"  Some  also  hold  that  the  election  was  not  legal, 
because  the  object  of  the  meeting  was  not  stated," 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  24I 

"  There  is  a  disagreement  also  as  to  the  meaning 
of  Sec.  5,  Chap.  VI.,  of  the  Discipline,  and  some 
maintain  that  it  applies  only  to  a  parish  consisting 
of  one  congregation  and  not  of  several. ' ' 

' '  Please  tell  us  what  we  must  do  to  give  a  man  a 
legal  call;  is  it  done  by  the  Joint  Council,  or  by  each 
church,  or  by  each  Church  Council?" 

To  this  I  replied  in  substance  as  follows: 

1 '  I  never  before  heard  of  such  conduct  on  the  part 
of  a  minister ;  if  you  state  it  correctly,  namely,  '  that 
if  the  parish  would  call  the  man  whom  he  recom- 
mended, he,  the  pastor,  would  wait  for  the  back  sal- 
ary you  owe  him,  but  if  you  did  not  take  his  man, 
and  prefer  some  one  else,  he  would  make  you  pay 
him  every  cent  before  he  would  allow  you  to  call 
another  pastor.'  Now,  I  agree  with  him  that  a 
church  should  pay  what  it  owes  to  a  minister  before 
another  is  called,  but  that  a  man  should  manage  to 
get  as  his  successor  another  man  upon  condition  that 
you  pay  him  his  back  salary  is  unheard  of.  I  admit 
he  might  properly  say  'you  shall  not  call  another 
man  until  you  have  paid  me,'  but  to  say  'take  the 
man  of  my  choice,  and  not  of  yours,  and  I'll  trust 
you  longer,  but  if  you  do  not  take  him  I  will  press 
my  claim  instantly  and  compel  you  to  pay, '  is  com- 
ing nearer  to  what  the  apostle  calls  '  lording  it  over 
God's  heritage  '  than  anything  I  know. 

"The  Joint  Council  plainly  transcended  their  au- 
thority by  calling  a  minister  without  giving  the 
whole  parish  an  opportunity  to  vote.  This  is  an  act 
16 


242  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

of  usurpation  and  presumption  not  sanctioned  by 
our  church  law  or  usage.  See  Chap.  VI.,  Sec.  5. 
No  Synod  would  justify  such  proceedings,  and  no 
parish  should  submit  to  it. 

"  In  regard  to  Chap.  VI.,  Sec.  5,  it  is  true  that  the 
language  seems  to  imply  that  only  one  church  is 
meant ;  but  it  has  been  the  universal  practice  of  our 
Church  that  when  the  parish  consists  of  more  than 
one  congregation,  and  one  of  them  dissents  from  the 
choice  of  the  others,  the  whole  number  of  votes 
should  be  counted,  and  if  the  candidate  receives  two- 
thirds  of  the  whole  he  is  declared  elected,  and  the 
dissentients  are  expected  fraternally  to  submit,  just 
as  in  a  civil  election  where  a  congressional  district  is 
composed  of  several  counties.  If  a  candidate  gets 
a  majority  of  all  the  votes  he  is  elected,  although 
one  or  even  two  counties  may  cast  a  majority  of  their 
votes  against  him.  So  in  a  church  election,  while 
each  congregation  votes  by  itself,  yet  the  ballots  of 
all  together  are  counted  as  a  whole,  and  if  a  candi- 
date receives  two-thirds  of  the  whole,  no  matter 
from  which  congregation  they  come,  he  is  declared 
to  be  chosen  by  the  whole  parish. 

"In  answer  to  your  last  question  I  would  say  that 
according  to  our  church  government  the  united 
voices  of  two-thirds  of  the  churches  of  a  parish  is 
necessary  to  a  legal  call,  and  not  the  individual  call 
of  each  congregation,  and  much  less  that  of  the 
Joint  Council.  The  minister  is  called  as  the  pastor 
of  the  whole  parish,  and  not  of  any  particular  church 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  243 

of  the  parish,  and  therefore  a  united  call  from  two- 
thirds  of  the  legal  voters  is  necessary  to  render  it 
legal.  It  follows  that  your  call  of  the  present  min- 
ister by  the  Joint  Council  is  illegal,  and  not  binding 
upon  any  one  of  your  congregations.  Your  Joint 
Council  violated  the  law  in  electing  him,  and  he  did 
the  same  in  accepting  it.  The  dissentient  churches, 
as  well  as  individuals,  have  a  right  to  complain  and 
to  appeal  to  Synod  for  a  vindication  of  their  rights. 

"  You  have  not  asked  my  advice  as  to  relieving  you 
of  this  difficulty,  and  hence  I  will  not  give  it,  and 
only  remark  that  you  are  in  a  very  anomalous  posi- 
tion, from  which  I  fear  you  will  not  easily  be  ex- 
tricated. ' ' 

I  once  received  a  letter  requesting  me  to  name 
six  ministers  in  the  order  of  their  merit,  in  my 
judgment,  who  would  be  adapted  to  a  congregation 
of  commanding  influence.  Fortunately  for  me  there 
was  no  mention  of  place  nor  of  any  other  particu- 
lars, although  I  guessed.  I  took  advantage  of  this 
lack  of  specialty,  and  replied  that  I  could  not  possi-' 
bly  give  a  sensible  answer  without  knowing  whether 
it  was  a  town,  city  or  country  church,  whether  Ger- 
man preaching  was  required,  whether  the  congrega- 
tion was  intelligent,  liberal  and  well  trained,  whether 
there  was  a  parsonage  and  a  nourishing  Sunday- 
school,  whether  the  post-office  was  near  at  hand  and 
the  roads  good,  and  a  number  of  other  questions  of 
like  character. 

I  heard  nothing  of  it  after  my  reply. 


244  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

A  very  worthy  minister  once  came  to  me  and 
complained  that  he  could  not  read  half  an  hour 
without  falling  asleep.  He  deplored  this  infirmity, 
for  he  was  sincerely  anxious  to  prosecute  his  studies, 
but  encountered  this  serious  difficulty.  I  advised 
him  to  consult  a  physician,  for  I  had  no  doubt  his 
somnolency  proceeded  from  torpidity  of  his  liver. 
It  may  have  been  indolence,  in  part,  or  lack  of  in- 
terest in  his  work,  or  dullness  of  comprehension, 
and  yet  he  seemed  ambitious  of  improvement.  I 
apprehended  the  trouble  was  physical,  and  I  could 
give  him  no  better  advice  than  to  submit  to  medical 
treatment.  He  also  complained  of  the  difficulty  of 
finding  suitable,  or  rather  satisfactory  texts  on  which 
to  preach.  For  this  I  kindly  rebuked  him,  and  said 
that  Bible  readers  (and  he  should  be  one)  would 
come  across  numerous  suggestive  and  pregnant 
texts  or  themes,  which  he  should  note  in  a  little 
blank  book,  such  as  every  minister  should  have 
about  him.  In  addition  I  suggested  the  names  of 
several  books  made  up  of  classified  texts,  but  recom- 
mended specially  that  he  should  take  up  the  Sunday 
lessons  of  the  Church  Year,  which  he  would  find  in 
the  Church  Almanac.  I  added  that  for  doctrinal 
sermons  he  might  give  a  S}^stematic  series  founded 
on  the  Creed,  or  the  Confession,  The  Order  of  Sal- 
vation, and  for  practical  subjects  he  should  use  the 
Epistles,  the  Lord's  Prayer,  the  Sermon  on  the 
Mount,  the  Ten  Commandments,  and  the  whole 
Bible.  I  do  not  know  whether  he  followed  my 
advice. 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  245 

A  young-  man  came  to  me  for  advice  about  study- 
ing for  the  ministry.  He  was  a  perfect  stranger.  I 
of  course  inquired  into  his  moral  and  mental  char- 
acter. "Who  is  your  pastor?"  "I  have  none." 
11  Of  what  church  are  you  a  member?"  "  Of  none. ' ' 
"  Where  do  you  go  to  church?"  "Nowhere."  "Are 
you  a  professor  of  religion?"  "No."  "Do  you 
read  the  Scriptures,  or  pray?"  "  No."  "  Have  you 
any  sense  of  personal  guilt,  and  do  you  feel  the  need 
of  a  Redeemer?"  "  No."  "  What  is  your  motive 
in  seeking  the  ministry  ?"  "  Oh,  I  think  it  is  a  re- 
spectable sort  of  life. "  "  And  you  expect  to  make 
money  by  it  ?"      "  Yes,  enough  to  live  on.  " 

This  is  the  substance  of  a  long  talk,  and  I  never 
encountered  a  similar  case.  The  man  was  not  in- 
sane nor  drunk,  and  the  nature  of  my  advice  and 
admonitions  may  be  imagined. 

LUTHERAN    MINISTERS'   MUTUAL    INSURANCE    LEAGUE. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Synod  of  Maryland,  Octo- 
ber 28,  1870,  I  introduced  the  subject  indicated 
above,  but  not  wishing  to  take  up  too  much  time  in 
the  explanation  of  it,  I  promised  to  set  it  forth  in  the 
Church  papers,  and  then  proceeded  immediately  to 
the  establishment  of  the  League,  with  the  help  of 
such  brethren  as  would  favor  the  measure. 

The  main  feature  of  the  concern  is  simply  this: 
That  every  minister  shall  agree  to  pay  to  the  treas- 
urer the  sum  of  $2,  as  soon  as  he  shall  be  officially 
informed  of  the  death  of  a  member,  to  be  transmit- 


246  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

ted  to  his  widow  or  children  or  other  legal  repre- 
sentatives. Every  minister  in  good  health  may  be- 
come a  member,  and  provision  will  also  be  made  for 
the  membership  of  laymen  who  may  desire  m  this 
way  to  help  the  families  of  deceased  ministers,  but 
no  layman,  however,  can  derive  any  pecuniary  ben- 
efit from  the  institution.  He  may  give,  but  he  can- 
not receive. 

In  order  to  have  an  amount  of  money  on  hand  to 
pay  for  stationery,  printing  certificates,  appeals,  re- 
ports, and  post-office  expenses,  there  will  be  an  in- 
itiation fee  required  not  exceeding  one  dollar. 

There  will  be  no  office  rent,  no  salaried  officer, 
no  commissions,  and  no  large  sum  of  money  in 
hand  to  be  invested,  so  that  the  sum  of  $2  from 
each  member  will  be  secured  entire  to  the  family 
to  which  it  shall  be  due.  Thus,  supposing  that 
we  had  500  members,  the  widow  of  the  first  de- 
ceased member  would,  forty  days  after  his  death, 
receive  $1,000,  and  so  in  proportion  to  the  number 
of  members. 

The  League  will  be  empowered  to  receive  be- 
quests and  legacies,  which  may  become  a  perpetual 
fund,  from  which  appropriations  may  be  made  to 
relieve  special  cases  of  want  and  distress  in  clergy- 
men's families,  or  the  income  of  which  may  go  to 
swell  the  amount  of  mortuary  dues  as  often  as  death 
might  occur. 

A  similar  institution  has  been  for  some  time  in  suc- 
cessful operation  in  the  Episcopal  and  perhaps  other 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  247 

churches,  and  this  inspires  us  with  the  utmost  confi- 
dence in  commending  it  to  the  favorable  considera- 
tion and  acceptance  of  our  whole  Church,  and  specially 
because,  while  it  provides  a  life  insurance  for  all  its 
members,  the  premium  which  secures  the  ultimate 
benefit  is  not  paid  to  a  board  of  managers,  who  for 
a  pecuniary  consideration  invest  it  for  the  benefit  of 
the  insured,  but  it  is  at  once  transmitted  by  the 
treasurer  to  the  widow  and  orphans  of  the  deceased 
member  without  discount,  expense  or  defalcation. 
Not  only  is  it  impossible  that  funds  should  be  mis- 
appropriated or  lost,  but  at  the  decease  of  any  mem- 
ber all  the  surviving  members  are  summoned  to  the 
relief  of  those  who  are  dependent  upon  him,  and 
thus  the  charity  which  each  exercises  towards  all 
becomes  a  pledge  that  all  will  do  the  like  for  him, 
and  so  a  sacred  brotherhood  is  perpetuated,  which 
is  evoked  into  practical  activity  the  very  instant  that 
death  removes  a  brother,  thus  in  effect  realizing  that 
mysterious  promise :  ' '  Give  and  it  shall  be  given 
unto  you,  good  measure,  pressed  down,  and  shaken 
together  and  running  over,  shall  men  give  into  your 
bosom. ' ' 

Each  brother  by  this  plan,  simply  exercising  the 
benevolence  which  we  all  owe,  converts  the  League, 
so  far  as  its  provisions  extend,  into  a  guardian  for 
those  whom  he  shall  leave  behind  when  death  re- 
moves him  from  his  labor. 

Inasmuch  as  the  interest  is  mutual,  it  will  ob- 
viously be  the  policy,  and  in  some  sense  the  duty,  of 


248  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

each  member  to  increase,  so  far  as  is  in  his  power, 
the  number  of  members. 

At  a  subsequent  meeting  held  in  Baltimore  a  few 
weeks  afterwards  the  League  was  organized  by  the 
adoption  of  a  constitution  and  the  election  of  officers, 
and  it  went  into  immediate  operation.  There  was 
fierce  opposition  to  it  through  the  Observer ',  for  every 
good  scheme  proposed  among  us  encounters  ene- 
mies ;  but  it  prevailed  notwithstanding,  and  it  worked 
wonderfully  well  for  1 5  3-ears.  It  was  found  neces- 
sary now  and  then  to  change  some  of  its  features, 
to  which  there  was  no  objection.  Over  $63,000  have 
been  paid  to  poor  widows,  but  at  this  time  (1885)  the 
membership  has  decreased,  owing  to  the  painful  fact 
that  during  one  period  of  six  months  nine  members 
died,  and  the  payment  of  dues  so  quick  in  succession 
was  hard  for  poor  men.  A  number  of  them  with- 
drew their  names.  I  have  not  much  hope  for  the 
continuance  of  the  League,  which  has  been  of  such 
invaluable  service  to  the  families  of  many  of  our 
poor  men. 

There  was  much  frivolous  and  some  dishonorable 
writing  about  it  in  the  Observer,  and  all  along  some 
men  have  been  severely  and  spitefully  averse  to  it 
who  have  nothing  better  to  propose.  They  are  not 
the  men  who  usually  have  anything  good  to  bring 
forward,  but  who  stand  off  and  take  an  unamiable 
delight  in  finding  fault  with  other  men  who  have 
left  them  behind  in  so  man)'  other  things. 

It  gives  me  pleasure  to  state  here    that  to    the 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  249 

Rev.  F.  Ph.  Hennighausen  is  mainly  due  the  credit 
of  sustaining  the  League  through  its  vicissitudes 
and  perils.* 

PREACHING    IN    OTHER    PULPITS. 

Whilst  I  never  received  but  two  or  three  calls 
from  other  congregations  since  I  have  been  ordained, 
and  have  never  served  any  other  church  but  one  for 
33  years,  f  which  very  few  of  my  brethren  have  done, 
yet  I  have  been  frequently  invited  to  occupy  other 
pulpits  for  a  sermon  or  two  or  more.  I  presume 
the  reason  why  I  have  never  been  often  called  as 
pastor  anywhere  else  is,  first,  because  I  never  was 
in  the  market,  and  by  that  I  simply  mean  that  I  had 
no  inclination  to  go,  and  employed  no  means  to  se- 
cure such  attentions,  and  secondly  because  I  pre- 
sume I  was  not  desirable,  in  other  words,  no  church 
wanted  me.  That  was  sensible  on  their  part,  and 
I  humbly  acquiesced. 

I  have  been  called  to  other  responsible-  positions 
at  Gettysburg,  but  I  would  not  go. 

The  fact  of  my  not  being  elected  to  other  pulpits 
was  once  pleaded,  in  his  own  justification  and  very 
much  to  his  delight,  by  a  minister  of  another  com- 
munion.    He  was  a  good  and  sensible  man,  but  a 

*The  Society  has  at  present  (1895)  less  than  100  members, 
and  there  are  no  additions. 

f  I  served  the  Third  church  as  temporary  supply  for  several 
years,  and  I  am  now  preaching  at  Lutherville  because  the 
congregation  there  is  too  weak  to  support  a  pastor. 


25° 


LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 


dull  preacher,  a  wretchedly  poor  speaker,  and  wearily 
inanimate.  He  never  had  a  call  for  these  reasons, 
and  it  was  gratifying  to  him  to  be  able  to  refer  to 
my  case  as  analogous  to  his  own.  He  derived  com- 
fort from  that  fact,  and  although  very  anxious  to 
make  a  move,  for  he  had  preached  his  church  empty, 
yet  he  consoled  himself  by  saying,  ' '  Well,  there  are 
other    ministers    in    the    same    condition;     there's 

M ,  for  example,  and  if  he  never  was  asked  to 

leave  his  present  place,  I  don't  see  why  I  should 
grieve  about  being  overlooked ! ' ' 

In  my  earlier  years  I  preached  in  nearly  all  our 
own  pulpits  for  a  Jiundrcd  miles  around,  and  in  some 
directions  further  still.  I  have  attended  frequent 
corner-stone  layings  and  church  consecrations  and 
sacramental  meetings,  and  in  the  olden  times  many 
protracted  and  revival  meetings.  I  presume  many 
of  our  energetic  ministers  can  say  the  same  of 
themselves. 

I  have  never  practiced  what  is  called  exchanging 
with  other  ministers.  It  was  not  common  years 
ago,  but  I  dare  say  it  is  a  good  custom  when  not  too 
frequently  indulged  in.  People  like  to  hear  a 
strange  voice,  and  they  sometimes  gain  by  it.  I 
have  sometimes  been  asked  by  a  few  of  my  own 
people,  who  did  not  like  to  stray  away  from  their 
own  church,  to  invite  to  my  pulpit  some  man  of 
distinction  who  came  to  town,  or  to  ask  an  exchange 
with  some  settled  minister;  but  I  never  complied, 
knowing  that   their  motive   was   shallow   curiosity, 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  25 1 

and  not  a  desire  to  hear  the  gospel.  I  replied,  "  If 
you  want  to  hear  the  man,  go,  but  I  shall  not  make 
my  pulpit  an  exhibition  stage  merely  to  gratify 
your  whim!" 

I  have  invited  many  men  of  reputation  to  preach 
for  me,  and  some  have  come ;  but  they  were  usually 
engaged  in  other  more  influential  and  fashionable 
churches,  and  we  obscure  Lutherans  were  compelled 
to  put  up  with  the  plain  gospel  fare  served  up  every 
Sunday  by  ourselves. 

I  have  preached  in  many  non-Lutheran  pulpits  in 
Baltimore,  but  that  sort  of  courtesy,  if  it  may  be 
called  such,  is  not  practiced  as  it  was  many  years 
asfo,  before  the  churches  became  so  numerous,  and 
when  ministers  were  not  as  exclusive  as  many  are 
now.  Besides  this,  many  men  properly  think  they 
can  do  their  own  work  as  well  as  and  a  little  better 
than  others. 

I  have  never  been  much  annoyed  by  strangers 
asking  me  for  the  use  of  my  pulpit  merely  to  preach, 
and  not  for  the  presentation  of  a  specific  object.  I 
refused  every  one,  for  I  did  not  know  whether  they 
could  set  forth  the  gospel  more  forcibly  than  I  did, 
and  besides  I  was  not  willing  to  pander  to  the  vanity 
and  egotism  of  some  of  these  men. 

In  the  olden  time  it  was  almost  a  universal  custom 
to  invite  into  our  pulpits  members  of  Presbyterian 
Synods,  Methodist  Conferences  and  the  like,  which 
met  in  Baltimore.  Very  few  city  ministers  do  it 
now.     I  have  several  times  been  disappointed  at  the 


252  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

non-appearance  of  men  appointed  to  my  pulpit,  and 
often,  too,  when  they  did  come  they  were  not  of 
much  account.  One  man  once  excited  anything 
but  a  solemnizing  emotion  by  speaking  of  Mr. 
Luther.'!  Simple  as  it  appears  to  be  yet  it  was  a 
phrase  that  nobody  had  ever  heard  before,  and  it 
sounded  supremely  ridiculous. 

I  once  preached  five  or  six  consecutive  Sundays 
for  a  pastor  who  had  gone  on  an  excursion  to  the 
West.  He  never  made  any  acknowledgment  of  my 
service,  not  even  saying  "  Thank  you,  sir."  After 
some  time  had  elapsed  I  asked  him  "  whether  he 
ever  heard  that  I  had  complied  with  his  request  to 
preach  for  him  during  his  long  absence?"  He  re- 
plied that  he  had  heard  of  it,  and  said  no  more,  not 
even  offering  to  pay  my  car-fare  to  town.  All  this 
came  from  defective  early  training.'  It  was  not  lack 
of  respect  for  me,  or  an  inappreciation  of  my  serv- 
ices, but  pure  absence  of  culture ;  for  this  same  man, 
a  few  years  afterwards,  came  to  consult  me  on  a 
very  important  affair  affecting  his  clerical  standing. 
It  was  simply  whether  I  would  advise  him  to  accept 
an  honor  offered  him  by  a  corporation  for  which  he 
had  not  a  high  respect. 

I  have  paid  a  few  men  more  than  their  expenses 
for  preaching  for  me  m  my  absence,  but  I  never 
was  offered  anything  more  than  expenses  myself 
except  once  or  twice.  Some  men  are  very  particu- 
lar in  paying  just  precisely  your  expenses  and  not  a 
cent  more.     Thus  I  know  a  prominent  church  which 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  253 

gave  a  helping-  brother  exactly  $1.72,  which  he  had 
paid  for  car  fare,  withholding  the  few  cents  to  make 
it  the  even  $2. 

For  many  years  it  was  not  an  easy  matter  to  get 
a  substitute  in  Baltimore  if  you  intended  to  be 
absent  a  week  or  so.  There  were  at  that  time  not 
so  many  clerical  editors,  secretaries,  dilapidated  or 
churchless  ministers  as  at  present,  and  hence  in  the 
olden  times  we  were  compelled  to  ask  men  of  doubt- 
ful ability  to  preach,  and  who  could  make  a  better 
boot  or  coat  or  horse-shoe  than  a  sermon. 

I  once  knew  a  very  good  and  popular  pastor  of  a 
city  church — not  Baltimore — who  on  nearly  all  oc- 
casions of  his  absence,  and  always  at  Communion, 
invited  men  of  that  class  to  help  him.  A  medical 
professor  was  a  member  of  the  church.  The  min- 
ister had  most  injudiciously  invited  an  ignorant 
quack  doctor,  whom  somebody  had  licensed  to 
preach,  to  help  him.  Our  professor,  who  knew  this 
ignorant  pretender,  refused  to  receive  Sacrament 
from  him,  left  the  church  with  his  family,  and  joined 
another  of  our  congregations  in  that  city. 

I  was  once  invited  by  a  lay  preacher  to  help  him 
in  some  meetings  he  was  holding  in  a  small  chapel 
in  the  country.  I  went,  and  expounded  the  parable 
of  the  Publican  and  Pharisee.  He  ' '  followed  with 
some  remarks, ' '  and  used  the  word  ' '  Republican 
all  through,  much  to  my  disgust  and  the  amusement 
of  the  young  people. 


254  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

GOOD    ADVICE    FROM    MEMBERS. 

For  many  years  it  was  my  good  fortune  to  have 
among-  my  hearers  several  intelligent  gentlemen 
who  occasionally  did  me  the  good  service  of  pointing 
out  what  they  considered  some  faults  in  the  style  of 
my  preaching  or  the  matter  of  my  sermons.  In  my 
early  life  my  cousin,  J.  C.  K.,  who  attended  my 
church  every  Sunday  night,  would  now  and  then 
make  judicious  criticism,  for  he  was  extremely  in- 
terested in  my  success.  His  remarks  were  always 
made  in  the  kindest  spirit,  and  I  profited  by  them. 

In  later  years  another  good  friend  was  my  mentor, 
who  was  well  instructed  in  the  Scriptures,  but  he 
was  rather  exacting;  but  I  knew  that  his  intentions 
were  perfectly  pure,  and  he  aimed  only  at  my  good. 
I  often  took  his  advice,  and  improved  under  it.  On 
one  occasion  I  remember  that  my  good  friend  Heyer 
was  present  when  my  critic  and  I  were  discussing  a 
theological  point  about  which  we  differed.  I  had  pre- 
sented my  views  in  a  sermon,  to  which  he  objected. 
He  was  a  good  talker,  and  rather  able  as  a  disput- 
ant. When  he  left  me  Mr.  Heyer  remarked  that  it 
was  a  great  advantage  to  a  minister  to  have  such 
intelligent  men  in  his  church,  who  would  rightly 
appreciate  their  pastor's  good  qualities,  and  yet  who 
had  the  honesty  to  tell  him  his  faults  in  a  kind  and 
fraternal  spirit. 

There  are  people  enough  in  every  church  who  are 
continually  finding  fault  with  the  preacher,  and  who 
freely  speak  of  these  faults  to  others,  but  who  have 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  255 

not  the  manliness  to  tell  the  minister  himself.  Some 
are  afraid  of  hurting  his  feelings,  and  others  delight 
in  this  style  of  church  gossip;  but  the  man  who 
; really  respects  his  minister,  and  is  jealous  of  his 
'good  name  and  popularity,  would  be  doing  him 
•  good  if  he  occasionally  pointed  out  an  acknowledged 
blemish  in  his  manner  and  matter  of  preaching. 
Captious  criticism  and  brotherly  counsel  are  differ- 
ent things,  and  blessed  is  that  minister  who  has  a 
kind,  intelligent,  pious  friend,  who  will  give  him 
good  advice  when  there  seems  to  be  occasion  for  it. 

I  have  had  one  or  two  clerical  brothers,  who  were 
engaged  in  other  pursuits,  as  my  hearers  for  months 
together,  but  who  were  not  pleased  with  my  preach- 
ing, and  gave  good  evidence  of  it  by  their  inatten- 
tion. One  of  them  ceased  coming  to  our  church, 
and  went,  I  believe,  to  the  Methodists,  though  he 
got  his  bread  from  our  people.  A  good  old  lady 
once  remarked  to  me,  "  The  only  two  persons 
asleep  in  church  this  morning  were  two  ministers. ' ' 

Once  in  a  lecture  on  a  portion  of  Scripture  I  said 
that  the  passage  was  difficult,  and  that  I  was  not 
sure  whether  I  had  caught  the  precise  meaning.  I 
presume  my  language  was  equivalent  to  an  expres- 
sion that  I  did  not  understand  it  entirely.  One  of 
my  elders  kindly  said  to  me  that  I  had  better  not 
have  made  it  thus  publicly  known,  for  the  people 
expect  of  their  minister  that  he  should  understand 
the  Scriptures  thoroughly,  and  that  they  would  lose 
confidence  in  him  as  a  Bible  interpreter  if  he  ac- 


256  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

knowledged  his  own  ignorance  of  any  portion  of  it. 
My  old  friend  was  right. 

EVANGELICAL    ALLIANCE. 

Somewhere  else  in  this  book  I  have  stated,  or 
should  have  done  so,  that  in  1846  Drs.  Schmucker, 
Kurtz  and  I  went  to  London  to  be  present  at  the 
meeting  of  the  Evangelical  Alliance,  which  was  to 
convene  in  August,  the  history  of  which  I  need  not 
here  repeat.  We  were  not  commissioned  as  repre- 
sentatives of  our  Church,  for  the  Alliance  emphat- 
ically declared  that  no  men  would  be  recognized  as 
representatives  of  any  church  or  body;  besides  this 
we  were  expected  to  pay  our  own  expenses,  which 
we  did. 

Various  interesting  events  grew  out  of  this  Alli- 
ance and  its  American  branch.  The  following  is 
not  unimportant,  and  may  as  well  be  introduced 
here.  I  furnished  it  to  the  Observer  twelve  or 
fifteen  years  ago: 

THAT    ALLIANCE    EXPEDITION    TO    RUSSIA. 

The  American  Evangelical  Alliance  appointed  a  commission 
to  proceed  to  St.  Petersburg,  with  the  benevolent  design  of  in- 
terceding with  the  emperor  in  behalf  of  the  poor,  persecuted 
Lutherans  in  one  section  of  his  dominions.  These  people  are 
badly  treated  by  the  priesthood  of  the  Greek  church  because 
they  will  not  abandon  their  Lutheran  faith.  Their  rights  of 
conscience  are  interfered  with,  and  their  condition  is  rendered 
deplorable.  Measures  altogether  at  war  with  the  liberal  and 
enlightened  spirit  of  the  age  have  been  cruelly  pursued,  and 
these  persecuted  brethren  of  our  faith  have  in  vain  implored  for 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  257 

protection  against  the  outrageous  proceedings  of  a  bigoted 
priesthood. 

The  American  Alliance  has  generously  come  to  their  rescue, 
and  a  commission  of  eminent  divines  and  laymen  from  this 
country  has  already  entered  upon  their  embassy  of  love  and 
pacification.  Their  truly  Christian  purpose  is  to  endeavor  to 
influence  the  emperor  in  behalf  of  persecuted  Lutherans,  for 
which  we  should  give  them  all  due  credit,  and  pray  that  their 
mission  may  be  successful. 

The  commission  is  composed  of  distinguished  gentlemen  of 
four  or  five  Christian  denominations,  but  there  is  not  a  single 
Lutheran  among  them.  "Perhaps  none  of  our  men  would  go?  " 
It  might  be  so;  but  none  were  asked!  "Perhaps  they  did  not 
think  any  of  us  were  fit  to  go!"  Probably;  but  how  did  they 
know  that  ?  I  know  fifty  of  our  men  who  speak  more  languages 
than  any  of  the  commission,  excepting  one,  and  who  have  all 
the  fitness  which  any  of  them  possess.  "Perhaps  they  did  not 
want  a  Lutheran  to  intercede  in  behalf  of  his  Lutheran 
brethren?  "     Perhaps  so,  but  it  was  unwise  policy. 

One  of  our  ministers,  whose  tender  susceptibilities  were 
stirred  up,  who,  in  plain  English,  felt  hurt  at  this  manifest 
slight  of  his  brethren  in  the  ministry,  wrote  to  the  most  eminent 
member  of  the  commission,  whom  he  intimately  knew,  and  in- 
quired why  no  Lutheran  was  honored  with  a  place  among  those 
worthies.  Was  it  intentional  ?  was  it  an  oversight?  or  what  was 
it?  The  inquirer  has  kindly  sent  me  the  original  reply,  and 
here  is  the  whole  of  it : 

Dear  Sir:  Your  letter  of  May  18th,  asking  the  reason  why 
no  Lutheran  has  been  appointed  a  member  of  the  Alliance 
deputation  to  Russia,  has  been  received.  It  is  neither  inten- 
tional nor  an  oversight.  We  had  to  select  such  gentlemen  who, 
besides  their  high  standing  and  qualifications  to  represent  the 
Evangelical  Alliance  in  so  important  a  mission,  were  able  and 
willing  to  proceed  to  Russia  at  their  own  expense,  the  Alliance 
having  no  means  to  reimburse  them.  This  fact,  of  course,  cuts 
off  many  who  would  be  as  well  qualified,  and  would  have  been 
as  cheerfully  elected.     Do  you  know  of  a  Lutheran  friend  of  the 

17 


258  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

Alliance  who  would  fairly  represent  your  church,  and  be  willing 
to  make  the  sacrifice  of  time  and  money  for  a  good  and  noble 
cause  ?  I  shall  be  happy  to  bring  him  to  the  notice  of  the  depu- 
tation.    I  expect  to  sail  June  3d  and  return  in  September. 

This  was  as  much  as  could  be  expected  at  so  late  a  day,  and 
I  am  sure  the  noble-minded  writer  of  the  letter  would  have  been 
glad  to  have  one  of  our  like-minded  men  in  his  company.  He 
is  a  most  genial  German  gentleman,  who  fondly  admires  every 
thorough-blooded  Lutheran. 

Well,  after  all,  what  is  the  most  probable  reason  why  none 
of  vis  were  invited?  Shall  I  tell  it?  It  is  only  my  op.nion,  but 
I  think  I  am  right.  The  reason  is  obscurely  shadowed  forth  in 
this  phrase  of  the  above  letter:  "If  you  know  of  a  Lutheran 
friend  of  the  Alliance,''''  etc.  That's  the  reason.  As  a  churchy 
we  have  not  joined  in  the  glory-hallelujah  of  the  Alliance! 
That's  the  reason;  and  I  am  candid  to  say,  that  we  have  no 
right  to  complain.  And  yet,  strange  to  say,  the  very  man 
among  us  who,  of  all  others,  has  taken  the  least  interest  in  the 
Alliance,  was  gazetted  for  a  speech  at  the  meeting  that  was  to 
have  been  held  in  New  York  last  fall. 

The  fact  is,  we  had  better  say  no  more  about  it.  If  we  are 
ambitious  of  distinction  among  such  influential  associations, 
we  must  cultivate  a  more  friendly  spirit  with  them,  and  let 
them  send  deputations  to  Russia  in  behalf  of  Lutheran  Chris- 
tians without  a  Lutheran  delegate  among  them.  I  wonder 
what  answer  they  would  give  to  the  emperor,  or  to  some 
eminent  Lutheran  divine  in  Russia,  who  should  chance  to  ask 
them  why  there  is  no  Lutheran  on  their  committee?  Well,  let 
it  pass. 

The  Alliance  appointed  for  Stockholm  in  1884  did 
not  meet.  In  April  of  that  year  it  was  announced 
that  the  Archbishop  of  Upsala  and  other  dignitaries 
and  clergy  of  the  church  in  Sweden  had  publicly 
protested   against   the    meeting,   and   hence    it  was 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  259 

abandoned.  It  is  presumed  the  reasons  were  that 
the  English  non-Episcopalians  of  various  sects  had 
already  created  some  difficulties  in  Sweden  by  pros- 
elyting members  of  the  State  Church.  The  Com- 
mittee in  this  country,  of  which  Dr.  Schaff  is  (was) 
the  energetic  head,  even  if  not  chairman,  which 
I  however  presume  he  is  (was),  invited  nearly 
fifty  American  ministers  to  attend  that  Alliance  at 
their  own  expense,  of  whom  only  one,  as  far  as  I 
know,  was  of  our  Church — Dr.  Wolf,  of  Gettysburg. 
He  was  willing  to  go,  but  evidently  we  could  not 
consider  him  a  representative  of  our  Church.  He 
was  not  appointed  by  any  Synod,  Faculty  or  Board, 
and  although  he  would  be  a  fit  representative,  if 
such  a  character  were  acknowledged,  yet  we  as  a 
people  could  not  regard  him  in  that  light,  and  hence 
could  not  make  church  provision  for  his  expenses. 
Besides  this,  some  of  us  knew  that  the  Lutherans  in 
Sweden  would  not  favorably  regard  this  uninvited 
Alliance  (uninvited  by  the  Church  authorities),  and 
hence  our  highly  esteemed  Dr.  Wolf  would  not  be 
treated  very  hospitably  by  his  own  Lutheran  breth- 
ren. They  would  look  upon  him  as  a  colleague  of 
those  English  and  American  churches  who  are 
spending  large  amounts  of  money  in  proselyting 
Swedish  Lutherans  to  the  faith  of  their  sects,  and 
hence  would  most  probably  treat  him  coldly.  The 
Alliance  was  not  held  in  Stockholm. 

In  December,   1887,   a  meeting  of  the  American 
branch   of   the   Alliance  was   held   in  Washington, 


260  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

Wm.  E.  Dodge,  Jr.,  of  New  York,  President.  It 
is  said  that  over  1,000  ministers  attended,  and 
among  them  40  of  our  own  men,  all  General  Synod 
ministers  except  one.  No  conspicuous  position  was 
given  to  an}7  of  us  in  the  way  of  reading  a  paper  or 
any  other,  except  that  one  was  invited  to  read  the 
Scriptures  and  another  to  pray  at  the  opening  of  a 
session.  There  was  the  usual  howl  from  several 
quarters  in  the  Observer,  and  grievous  lamentation 
about  being  ' '  ignored. ' '  Dr.  Strong,  the  Secretary, 
came  out  in  vindication  of  the  Alliance,  and  disa- 
vowed any  intentional  slight  of  our  Church.  The 
fact  is  simply  this,  that  we  are  to  blame  ourselves 
for  being  overlooked  in  such  public  demonstrations, 
because  we,  as  a  church,  do  not  participate  vigor- 
ously in  these  general  union  efforts ;  and  yet  I  at- 
tribute it  more  to  backwardness,  or  call  it  modesty 
if  you  choose,  than  to  unwillingness  or  lack  of  in- 
terest in  the  great  evangelical  movements  of  the 
day. 

FLIEDNER,    OF    KAISERSWERTH. 

In  T849  Mr.  Fliedner,  of  the  Kaiserswerth  School 
of  Deaconesses,  came  to  this  country,  and  upon 
arriving  at  Baltimore,  and  learning  that  I  was  in 
York,  Pa.,  went  up  to  see  me.  Whilst  we  were 
there  together,  the  guests  of  my  brother  Charles, 
President  General  Taylor  passed  through  town. 
The  train  stopped  a  short  time  to  give  the  people 
an  opportunity  of  seeing  him,  and  I  was  amused  to 
see  the  sedate  Fliedner  taking  off  his  hat  and  wav- 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  261 

ing  it  lustily  while  joining  the  multitude  in  vocifer- 
ous hurrahs.  On  expressing  my  surprise  at  such  a 
demonstration  from  him,  a  foreigner  and  monarchist 
as  he  was,  he  replied  he  was  carried  away  with  the 
scene,  and  thought  it  was  nothing  more  than  right 
to  do  homage  to  the  chief  magistrate  of  the  country. 
After  our  return  to  Baltimore  he  visited  some  of 
our  penal  and  charitable  institutions,  and  one  day 
he  came  home  deeply  distressed,  and  unsparing  in 
his  rebuke  of  ' '  American  ' '  Christianity.  He  said 
he  had  just  come  from  a  visit  to  the  city  prison, 
where,  among  other  subjects  claiming  Christian 
sympathy,  was  a  young  girl,  entirely  forsaken,  and 
no  kind  heart  to  extend  help  or  consolation  or  pro- 
tection in  any  way.  He  asked,  "  Have  you  no 
Christian  ladies  here  who  visit  these  poor  outcasts, 
to  instruct  them,  and  do  other  Christian  offices  to 
them  ? ' '  and  when  I  replied  that  it  would  not  be 
considered  genteel  for  a  respectable  lady  to  go  to  a 
prison  on  any  errand,  or  at  least  these  ladies  thought 
so,  he  asked,  ' '  What  sort  of  Christianity  have  you 
here?"  and  well  he  might.  I  told  him  there  are 
hundreds  of  ladies  here  in  Baltimore  who  would 
liberally  furnish  as  much  money  as  was  necessary 
to  relieve  such  persons ;  that  they  would  be  found 
in  large  numbers  at  every  meeting  called  to  relieve 
human  suffering,  and  freely  contribute  funds  and 
furnish  food  and  raiment  for  the  destitute ;  that  they 
were  constant  attendants  at  public  worship  and  other 
church  assemblies  and  ordinances,  but  that  it  was 


202  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

not  the  practice  of  Christian  ladies  here,  with  per- 
haps the  exception  of  a  few  old  Quaker  ladies,  in 
person  to  visit  women  in  jail.  He  could  not  under- 
stand it,  nor  can  I. 

After  the  meeting  of  the  Evangelical  Alliance  in 
New  York  in  187  ?  a  number  of  the  German  dele- 
gates came  to  Baltimore.  Some  of  the  German 
ministers  here  made  an  arrangement  for  a  religious 
meeting  in  St.  Matthew's  church,  at  that  time  Pastor 
Meyer's,  after  which  we  had  a  plain  German  supper 
at  a  neighboring  house,  at  which  we  spent  a  very 
pleasant  and  profitable  evening.  The  strangers 
present  whom  I  now  remember  were  Christlieb, 
Kothe,  Spies,  Krummacher,  a  lay  brother  of  Heng- 
stenberg,  and  a  few  others.  I  had  a  long  conversa- 
tion with  Prof.  Christlieb  upon  American  church 
affairs. 

Not  a  few  foreign  clerical  visitors  of  other  times 
were  not  precisely  of  the  same  caste  of  those  men- 
tioned above.  Some  of  them  were  not  at  all  adapted 
to  the  condition  of  things  in  this  country.  I  heard 
one  of  them  preach  one  Sunday,  and  before  next 
Sunday  he  committed  suicide.  Several  of  them 
enlisted  in  the  army.  One  came  to  my  house  whom 
I  was  compelled  to  turn  out.  One  was,  physically, 
the  lamest  man  you  could  meet,  totally  incapacitated 
for  pastoral  out-door  work;  but  there  were  many 
good  exceptions  to  these  men,  who  have  become 
very  serviceable  in  the  church. 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  263 

CONSUBSTANTIATION. 

We  have  for  many  years  been  surprised,  and  some- 
what vexed  also,  because  very  respectable  and  intelli- 
gent writers  continue  to  charge  us,  as  a  church,  with 
holding  the  doctrine  of  consubstantiation.  We  have 
repudiated  it  over  and  over  again,  and  have  quoted 
the  absolute  denial  from  many  of  our  old  theolog- 
ians, but  it  all  seems  to  be  of  no  service.  The  im- 
putation is  repeated  again  and  again,  notwithstand- 
ing our  proofs  to  the  contrary.  Even  such  a  learned 
and  respectable  writer  as  Dr.  Schaff,  who  knows 
better,  allows  the  false  accusation  to  appear  in  some 

of  his  books.     The  learned  Prof. repeats  it,  and 

the  minor  writers  follow  the  lead  of  their  superiors 
without  any  further  investigation,  blindly  assuming 
that  it  is  all  right. 

In  the  preface  to  an  English  work  on  the  Refor- 
mation, all  the  remaining  copies  of  which  were 
bought  by  our  Publication  Society,  there  is  an  im- 
plied, though  not  direct,  charge  of  the  same  char- 
acter, and  as  the  book  was  offered  for  sale  by  our 
store  it  would  not  seem  proper  to  leave  that  uncon- 
tradicted. 

The  Board  of  Publication  requested  me  to  prepare 
a  series  of  extracts  from  our  old  dogmaticians,  show- 
ing that  our  Church  does  not  hold  and  never  did 
hold  that  doctrine.  I  quoted  from  a  number  of 
them,  in  which  I  was  assisted  by  Schmidt's  Dog- 
matik  particularly,  and  made  a  full  exhibit  of  the 
subject.     This  was  printed  in  the  American  preface 


264  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

of  the  book  above  mentioned  and  also  in  the  Ob- 
server■,  but  I  have  no  doubt  the  same  misrepresen- 
tation will  be  repeated,  whatever  we  may  say. 

I  cannot  believe  that  these  learned  men  would 
wilfully  pervert  the  truth,  and  1  account  for  their 
culpable  errors  by  believing  that  they  leave  some 
of  this  work  to  be  done  by  amanuenses  who  are  not 
intelligent  on  these  subjects.  I  know  that  Dr.  Schaff , 
for  instance,  employed  a  number  of  copyists,  who 
were  called  secretaries,  to  whom  was  committed  the 
task  of  gathering  material,  and  who  were  not  always 
competent  to  do  it  properly.  Even  if  this  conjecture 
be  true,  it  is  no  justification  of  the  errors  they  per- 
petuate, for  the  principal  should  read  the  final  proof, 
and  should  correct  all  blunders. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

CHURCH  MISCELLANEA  :  STYLE  OF  PREACHING  IN  OUR  CHURCH 
—  ARGUMENT  FOR  STUDY— STATE  OF  THEOLOGY— PROGRESS 
— D.  D.  IN  OUR  CHURCH— CATECHISATION,  PASTORAL  VISITING 
—LUTHER  MEMORIAL  MEETINGS  IN  1 883— CHANGE  OF  VIEWS 
ON  LUTHERAN  THEOLOGY— ELECTION  OF  PROFESSORS— COL- 
LECTING FUNDS  FOR  THE  SEMINARY— THE  LUTHER  STATU- 
ETTE. 

STYLE    OF    PREACHING. 

I  never  had  an  opportunity  of  hearing  many  of 
our  ministers  preach,  except  at  Synod  and  other 
general  meetings,  and  then  for  the  most  part  it  was 
the  same  men,  for  on  such  occasions  usually  the  most 
prominent  men  are  the  speakers.  At  such  times 
ministers  are  presumed  to  do  their  best,  and  hence 
their  synodical  sermons  are  not  a  good  test  of  their 
style  and  manner  at  home.  Some  men  have  what 
are  unhandsomely  called  ' '  crack  sermons, ' '  which 
they  parade  on  all  unusual  occasions,  and  to  this  I 
see  no  objection ;  but  they  should  aim  at  making  all 
their  discourses  ' '  crack  sermons. 

There  was  very  little  doctrinal  preaching  as  far 
as  my  observation  extended,  but  mostly  of  the  prac- 
tical character  that  terminated  in  the  hortatory. 
There  were   very  few   men   who   indulged    in   the 

(265) 


266  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

boisterous,  and  not  many  who  practiced  or  affected 
the  highly  florid,  or,  as  it  has  been  designated,  the 
' '  spread-eagle  ' '  style.  We  had  one  or  two  who 
were  famous  in  this  line.  They  elicited  the  admira- 
tion of  some  hearers  who  were  as  superficial  as  the 
preachers,  and  they  never  accomplished  any  perma- 
nent good  for  the  Church.  They  did  not  remain 
long  in  any  parish,  for  the  people  grew  tired  of  that 
style  of  preaching,  from  which  they  derived  no  in- 
struction, and  ceased  going  to  church,  and  the  flow- 
ery preacher  was  obliged  to  seek  another  field  of 
labor. 

Many  of  our  preachers,  who  had  any  respect  for 
themselves  or  their  people,  either  wrote  their  ser- 
mons or  studied  them  carefully.  Some  of  them  read 
them  in  the  pulpit,  which,  however,  never  became 
popular  among  our  people,  and  I  know  some  men 
who  failed  m  securing  desirable  places  because  they 
did  not  preach  without  their  notes.  This  is  a  matter 
of  taste  and  education,  and  many  intelligent  people, 
even  among  us,  would  prefer  hearing  a  well-read 
discourse  to  any  other. 

I  know  one  of  our  very  best  preachers,  who  at  the 
beginning  of  his  pastoral  life,  read  his  sermons,  but 
becoming  dissatisfied  with  himself  he  adopted  the 
other  extreme.  It  was  hard  work  at  first,  but  by  per- 
severance he  attained  a  fluency  of  speech  and  an  ele- 
gance of  diction,  as  well  as  a  logical  sequence  of 
solid  thought,  so  that  he  is  now  one  of  the  most 
instructive  preachers  in  our  Church  or  any  other. 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  267 

Some  men  begin  by  writing  and  committing  their 
sermons,  but  most  of  them  tell  me  that  after  a  few 
years  they  found  it  a  laborious  work,  and  besides  it 
led  them  into  a  monotonous,  sing-song  delivery. 

Some  of  our  preachers  are  content  with  the  prepa- 
ration of  an  outline,  or  skeleton,  as  it  is  called,  and 
trust  to  their  readiness  of  speech  to  fill  it  up  when 
they  get  into  the  pulpit.  This  is  well  enough  for  a 
man  of  experience,  but  dangerous  for  beginners. 
It  begets  sameness  of  idea  as  well  as  of  words.  It 
is  hard  for  such  men  to  get  out  of  the  well-trodden 
rut,  and  hence  a  discerning  hearer  can  nearly  always 
anticipate  what  the  preacher  will  say,  and  frequently, 
too,  the  very  language  he  will  use. 

I  fortunately  never,  or  very  seldom,  have  heard 
any  attempt  made  at  profound  preaching — I  mean 
an  affected  metaphysics,  or  display  of  hard  and  ob- 
scure logic.  There  are  a  few  among  us  who  some- 
times divide  their  themes  into  parts,  in  abstract 
language,  and  often  use  the  terms  objective  and 
subjective  very  glibly,  just  as  if  the  majority  of 
their  hearers  understood  them  very  distinctly. 

I  have  also  heard  the  use  of  some  scientific  terms, 
taken  from  geology  or  natural  history,  when  it  was 
very  evident  that  the  preacher  was  not  very  familiar 
with  the  subject  himself.  This  bad  practice  has 
come  into  use  especially  since  there  has  been  such 
an  outcry  against  evolution.  But  let  us  charitably 
presume  that  the  preacher  merely  intended  to  warn 
his  hearers  against  the  dangers  of  modern  infidelity, 


268  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

and  thought  it  well  to  mention  some  offensive  names 
or  describe  some  objectionable  doctrines. 

I  observe  that  the  old  plan  of  dividing  a  text  cr 
theme  into  two  or  three  distinct  heads,  with  a  few 
subdivisions  of  each,  is  almost  entirely  given  up. 
Most  sermons  now  are  a  sort  of  essay,  with  the  text 
as  a  motto.  There  is  very  little  direct  exposition  of 
Scripture,  and  very  little  Scripture  quoted  in  illus- 
tration of  the  positions  assumed.  I  think  this  is  the 
character  of  most  of  the  modern  preaching  in  most 
pulpits.  I  look  upon  it  as  a  deterioration,  a  griev- 
ous calamity.  I  have  too  little  acquaintance  with 
the  popular  sermon  or  skeleton  books,  to  detect  the 
practice  of  preaching  other  men's  sermons,  but  I 
have  sometimes  heard  discourses  which  I  thought 
were  a  little  above  the  calibre  of  the  preacher. 
There  was  a  compactness,  a  graceful  or  eloquent 
diction,  a  clearness  of  conception,  a  logical  con- 
sistency, and  an  intellectual  breadth  which  he  never 
displayed  on  any  other  occasion,  so  that  I  did  not 
think  it  unkind  to  suspect  that  he  was  ploughing 
with  another  man's  oxen. 

There  have  been  detections  of  this  trick,  some  of 
which  will  occur  to  almost  every  clerical  reader.  I 
know  some  who  justify  this  practice  on  the  ground 
that  the  preacher  is  bound  to  give  the  best  to  his 
hearers,  and  if  he  cannot  furnish  it  from  his  own 
brain  or  heart,  let  him  take  good  bread  from  another 
man's  bakery  with  which  to  feed  his  own  half -starved 
congregation.     I  more  than  once  heard  a  very  pop- 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  269 

tilar  and   influential    editor  of   one  of   our  leading 
Church  papers  stoutly  defending  this  position. 

Some  years  ago,  during  the  lifetime  of  the  Rev. 
Drs.  Schmucker  and  Krauth,  it  was  observed  that 
not  a  few  of  their  pupils  quite  unconsciously  imi- 
tated their  tones  of  voice  whilst  preaching,  but  it 
has  not  been  noticed  that  any  student,  since  the 
death  of  those  two  men,  imitate  the  tones  of  the 
present  professors !  Now,  I  dare  say  this  was  quite 
unintentional  on  the  part  of  those  students;  they 
fell  into  the  habit  without  designing  it ;  but  such  was 
really  the  fact.  The  voice  tones  of  both  those  men 
were  soft  and  musical — sometimes  very  touching. 
They  had  the  effect  of  a  tender  melody  upon  sym- 
pathetic minds.  You  find  yourself  humming  it 
without  reflection,  and  so,  I  suppose,  some  men 
imitate  the  tones  of  others  in  speaking  without 
being  aware  of  it.  Men  with  discordant,  unpleasant 
voices  are  not  thus  imitated,  but  it  would  be  wTell  if 
those  men  who  unconsciously  fall  into  this  habit 
would,  with  full  purpose  and  intent,  imitate  the 
studious  habits  and  entire  consecration  of  heart  of 
their  instructors. 

I  think  I  could  safely  say  that  if  some  of  our 
Lutheran  preachers  whom  I  could  name  were  mem- 
bers of  other  communions,  their  reputation  would  be 
much  wider  than  it  is  as  Lutheran  preachers. 
Church  influence,  the  plaudits  of  the  crowd,  the 
frequent  compliments  of  their  church  papers,  the 
pride  of  sect,  the  power  of  a  costly  house  of  wor- 


270  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

ship,  and  a  fashionable  and  wealthy  congregation, 
would  give  them  a  position  in  public  favor  which 
we  cannot  do. 

I  was  trained  to  a  high  conception  of  the  necessity 
of  pulpit  preparation,  but  I  did  not  always  live  up 
to  it.  Sometimes  I  was  careless,  and  this  arose 
from  the  fact  that  my  people  seemed  to  be  satisfied 
with  my  ill-digested  discourses.  But  that  is  a  dan- 
gerous gauge.  Their  being  satisfied  is  no  evidence 
that  they  were  edified,  which  should  be  the  aim  of 
the  conscientious  preacher.  They  were  content, 
probably,  because  the  superficialness  of  the  sermons 
cost  them  no  thought  to  understand,  and  they  were 
pleased  more  by  a  pretty  off-hand  sketch  rather  than 
by  an  argumentative,  well-elaborated  discourse. 

I  remember  being  at  the  house  of  a  worthy  min- 
ister when  I  was  a  very  young  man.  He  was  called 
to  preach  a  funeral  sermon  in  the  country,  and  just 
before  he  mounted  his  horse  he  came  into  the  study 
and  took  out  of  a  pigeon-hole  of  his  table  the  skele- 
ton of  a  sermon  from  a  pile  of  dingy,  yellow  old 
manuscripts,  without  ever  looking  at  it  to  see  whether 
it  was  appropriate  or  not.  Now,  he  may  have  se- 
lected it  before,  but  from  his  manner  I  should  judge 
not.  It  was  done  in  a  hurry,  without  any  regard  for 
the  fitness  of  things.  It  struck  me  as  a  queer  pro- 
ceeding, and  yet  I  do  not  know  but  that  I  may  have 
done  what  is  equivalent  to  it  myself  in  later  days. 
I  do  not  think  this  preacher  would  have  been  so 
careless  about  his  Sunday  morning  sermon  to  his 
own  con  ere  eat  ion;  neither  would  I. 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  271 

ARGUMENT    FOR    STUDY. 

I  have  frequently  urged  upon  our  young  men,  in 
writing  and  conversation,  the  importance  of  pursuing 
theological  and  linguistic  studies,  and  h,ave  encour- 
aged them  whenever  I  had  an  opportunity  by  speak- 
ing well,  in  the  Observer  and  elsewhere,  of  their  lit- 
erary work.  We  shall  want  thoroughbred  scholars 
in  our  colleges  and  seminaries,  and  the  clergy  are 
evidently  looked  to  for  the  supply,  although  some 
of  our  professors  are  laymen. 

My  views  are  briefly  expressed  in  a  notice  of  the 
April  number  of  the  Review,  1880: 

"  That  professor  who  is  satisfied  with  his  present  attainments, 
and  who  is  not  constantly  advancing  in  the  literature  of  his  de- 
partment, is  not  fit  for  his  place,  and  it  is  said  there  are  some 
such  men.  They  know  110  more  now  than  they  did  when  they 
assumed  their  duties,  and  are  content.  A  professor  should  be  a 
growing  man,  and  if  he  once  gets  indolent  he  loses  his  influ- 
ence, and  would  be  much  chagrined  to  hear  what  his  fellow 
professors,  the  students  and  the  trustees,  say  concerning  him. 
He  had  better  begin  to.  study,  or  vacate  his  place  for  some  more 
ambitious  and  industrious  man  who  would  keep  far  ahead  of  his 
classes  and  up  to  the  times  in  his  science.  He  should  read  all 
the  new  books  and  journals  relating  to  his  subject,  and  thus 
show  that  he  is  conscientious  in  his  office  and  anxious  to  reflect 
credit  upon  himself  and  his  college." 

We  have,  on  several  occasions,  had  hard  work  to 
fill  several  important  vacancies.  I  have  known  at 
least  seven  ballotings  at  one  time,  and  those  not  be- 
tween two  candidates,  but  whether  one  should  be 
chosen  who  was  not  quite  up  to  the  gauge.     He  was 


272  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

finally  elected  at  midnight,  after  a  long  struggle,  by 
one  or  two  majority. 

It  would  be  well  if  we  always  had  three  or  more 
competent  men  in  reserve  to  chose  from,  in  the 
event  of  vacancies,  which  are  likely  to  occur  at  any 
time.  I  am  sure  that  different  arrangements  would 
have  been  recently  made  in  one  of  our  institutions 
if  we  had  had  proper  men  to  fill  the  place  vacated 
without  sacrificing  other  important  interests. 

I  know  well  enough  that  some  of  our  young  men 
who  are  inclined  to  study  plead  want  of  time,  oc- 
casioned by  numerous  pastoral  engagements,  but  I 
am  satisfied  that  in  most  cases  this  is  a  baseless  ex- 
cuse. If  they  only  systematized  their  studies  and 
time,  and  would  devote  more  of  it  to  their  books, 
and  not  waste  so  much  in  gossip  and  useless  visits 
and  in  newspaper  reading,  it  would  be  better  for 
them.  The  most  laborious  pastor  of  a  large  parish 
might  have  at  least  two  whole  days  of  the  week  at 
home  if  he  were  a  systematic  man,  and  these  devoted 
to  the  study  of  one  subject  would  make  him  a  good 
scholar  in  a  few  years.  As  for  his  sermons,  let  him 
study  them  inter  equitandum  (en  horseback  or  be- 
tween times),  and  write  them  down  on  his  tablet, 
which  every  man  should  have  with  him  always. 

Another  reason  why  we  have  so  few  really  first- 
class  scholars  is,  because  most  of  them  aim  at  being 
encyclopedial,  and  not  special.  They  range  over 
the  whole  field  of  theology,  and  hence,  whilst  they 
may  become  capital  preachers  and  respectable  di- 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER. 


273 


vines,  yet  they  are  not  fitted  as  they  should  be  to 
teach  thoroughly  one  or  two  specific  branches. 

Let  some  whose  minds  or  tastes  lie  in  the  direc- 
tion of  Dogmatik  pursue  that  department  particu- 
larly, and  so  of  the  Hebrew  and  Greek  languages  and 
exegesis,  or  church  history,  or  homiletics,  or  any 
other  special  study.  By  such  a  course  many  of  our 
diligent  young  men  would  become  proficient,  and 
would  always  have  the  best  chance  of  being  elected 
to  desirable  positions  if  they  had  any  ambition  in 
that  line. 

I  have  heard  it  said  of  one  of  our  ministers,  who 
lived  many  years  ago  in  North  Carolina,  and  who 
had  not  the  advantages  of  a  thorough  early  training, 
was  a  laborious  student  all  his  life,  but  he  died  be- 
fore he  had  reached  his  40th  year.  He  always  car- 
ried some  books  with  him,  and  though  he  might 
have  been  on  horseback  the  greater  part  of  the  day, 
yet  wherever  he  stopped  when  away  from  home  he 
spent  half  the  night  in  study.  He  made  consider- 
able acquirements  considering  his  slender  opportun- 
ities, but  unfortunately  they  were  not  devoted  to  the 
best  interests  of  the  Church. 

Many  ministers  when  they  retire  from  active  pas- 
toral service,  or  those  who  are  growing  old,  usually 
neglect  study,  or  even  diligent  reading.  They  seem 
to  be  willing  to  rest  after  having  done  hard  service, 
or  their  reading  is  confined  to  newspapers  and,  it 
may  be,  to  devotional  books,  which  is  well  enough. 
I  find  no  fault  with  these  men.  They  never  were 
18 


274  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

diligent  students,  and  it  is  too  late  for  them  to  ac- 
quire a  different  habit.  But  I  wish  here  to  record 
my  own  experience,  which  differs  so  much  from 
that  of  many  good  men,  and  it  is  that  I  never  was 
more  desirous  of  acquiring  knowledge,  never  more 
industrious  in  reading,  especially  in  writing,  never 
more  diligent  in  consulting  books,  and  never  spent 
more  time  at  my  literary  work  than  I  do  now,  and 
have  been  doing  for  some  years.  I  am  more  jealous 
of  my  time,  so  to  speak,  than  ever  before.  I  seem 
to  think  time  lost  that  is  not  devoted  to  research  and 
writing.  I  have  sometimes  thought  that  it  is  mor- 
bid, and  not  healthy.  Not  infrequently  I  get  up  at 
one  or  two  at  night,  go  into  my  study,  and  work  one 
or  two  hours.  It  is  a  bad  habit  at  any  time  of  life, 
but  at  my  time,  now  over  70,  it  is  not  at  all  to  be 
commended  or  imitated.  But  a  fit  of  insomnia  seizes 
me,  and  I  reason  that  the  time  would  be  more  profit- 
ably employed  over  my  books  than  in  dreamy  semi- 
consciousness in  bed.  I  do  not  feel  any  ill  effects 
from  it  next  day  for  having  had  only  five  or  six 
hours'  sleep,  but  can  get  to  work  next  morning  after 
breakfast  and  work  for  hours  without  cessation.  I 
never  could  study  before  breakfast.  Some  men  say 
that  it  is  the  best  time.  My  experience  is  different, 
and  if  I  am  much  interrupted  during  the  day,  late 
at  night  is  the  best  time  for  me. 

For  over  thirty  years  also  I  have  been  in  the  habit 
of  reading  every  night  before  I  go  to  bed,  and  dur- 
ing all  that  time  I  have  never  fallen  asleep  without 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  275 

extinguishing  the  light.  '  It  matters  not  how  early 
or  how  late  I  retire,  I  must  read  afterwards.  The 
length  of  time  depends  much  upon  the  book  I  have 
on  hand.  I  never  venture  upon  anything  which 
requires  thought;  usually  the  monthly  magazines, 
but  more  generally  a  French  or  German  novel,  is 
just  the  proper  thing. 

I  once  mentioned  this  habit  to  an  unorthodox 
clerical  acquaintance,  who  jocosely  observed  that 
he  had  the  same  habit,  but  "  always  read  one  of  his 
own  sermons  to  put  himself  to  sleep. "  ' '  Yes, ' '  I 
replied,  "  and  you  are  not  the  only  man  whom  your 
sermons  have  put  to  sleep. ' '  He  laughed  heartily, 
for  perhaps  he  was  conscious,  in  part,  of  being  the 
dullest,  prosiest  preacher  possible. 

STATE    OF    THEOLOGY. 

On  page  392  of  "  Fifty  Years  "  I  have  given  a 
brief  sketch  of  "The  State  of  Theology"  in  the 
Church  for  many  years,  but  I  did  not  mention  the 
persevering  efforts  made  by  influential  men  in  op- 
posing genuine  Lutheranism.  They  clung  ardently 
to  the  name,  and  gloried  in  their  ecclesiastical  an- 
cestry; but  they  held  that  under  that  name  they 
could  be  Calvinists,  Zwinglians,  or  Arminians. 
Lutheranism  with  them  covered  a  multitude  of 
errors,  hence  they  struggled  violently  in  mainte- 
nance of  the  lowest  church  views,  the  loosest  the- 
ology, provided  a  man  was  what  they  called  pious, 
the   most   unchurchly   revival    methods,    and    even 


276  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

extravagance  in  some  of  their  meetings.  There 
was  what  might  be  called  a  school  of  men,  which 
sanctioned  the  extremes  of  Methodism  in  conduct- 
ing religious  services,  but  only  at  night.  The  day 
services  were  orderly  enough.  When  a  growing 
attachment  to  the  Symbolical  Books  and  a  more 
sober,  churchly  feeling  were  manifested,  these  men 
raised  a  terrific  cry  against  "  the  substitution  of 
the  Creed  for  the  Bible,"  and  even  quoted  the 
children's  song  against  popery,  "  We  won't  give 
up  the  Bible,"  just  as  if  the  orthodox  party  aimed 
at  depreciating  God's  word. 

Of  course  this  school  inveighed  severely  against 
the  use  of  a  liturgical,  and  above  all  a  responsive 
service,  and  although  very  few  of  us  ever  thought 
of  introducing  the  gown,  yet  that  also  came  in  for 
fierce  animadversion.  One  of  the  most  influential 
of  them  one  day  triumphantly  told  me  that  he  had 
good  old  Lutheran  authority  against  the  use  of  the 
gown,  for  the  writer,  an  old  German  theologian  of 
high  authority,  positively  asserted  that  the  clergy 
should  wear  no  distinctive  dress  from  the  laity. 
Our  American  friend  thought  this  settled  the  ques- 
tion, but  when  he  was  told  that  this  old  writer  was 
talking  of  every-day  costume — civil  dress  in  the 
street — and  not  of  clerical  vestments  in  the  pulpit 
or  at  the  altar,  he  was  compelled  to  abandon  his 
ground,  much  to  his  chagrin,  although  I  suspected 
that  his  acknowledged  penetration  led  him  to  see 
the  true  state  of  the  case  before.     It  was  enough, 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  277 

however,  for  his  blind  adherents,  who  followed  him 
implicitly,  and  never  examined  for  themselves. 

This  same  school,  or  the  leaders  of  it,  also  per- 
suaded their  followers  that  the  mass,  which  in  the 
symbols  is  sometimes  used  synonymous  with  the 
Lord's  Supper,  was  the  Romish  doctrine  of  the 
mass,  and  that  therefore  the  symbolical  books 
teaching  such  a  doctrine  should  be  rejected.  I 
sometimes  thought  these  men  knew  better,  but  it 
answered  a  purpose,  and  that  was  enough. 

The  "odium  theologicum  "  was  cherished  to  a 
ridiculous  extent.  For  instance,  because  I  fre- 
quently attended  the  meetings  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Synod  to  see  old  friends,  and  did  not  rail  with 
others  against  the  Missourians  and  ' '  old  Luther- 
ans ' '  in  general,  I  was  denounced  as  an  opponent 
of  the  General  Synod,  and  regarded  as  an  "  old 
Lutheran. ' '  But  this  spirit  did  not  prevail  for  many 
years,  for  our  men  gradually  became  more  enlight- 
ened, and  of  course  more  liberal ;  but  the  real  secret 
of  this  change  of  spirit  was  a  change  of  theological 
opinion,  for  genuine  Lutheranism  is  progressing 
every  year.  Indeed,  I  am  agreeably  surprised  in 
observing  that  most  of  our  clergy  are  closely  ap- 
proximating the  true  doctrines  of  the  Church,  al- 
though the  minds  of  many  are  not  very  clear  on  the 
subject,  yet  they  strongly  disclaim  everything  un- 
Lutheran.  This  change  has  been  going  on  for  a 
number  of  years  through  the  introduction  and  study 
of  distinctive  Lutheran  theology. 


278  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

You  will  now  find  few  respectable  ministers  of  our 
Church  who  cherish  the  sentiment  or  spirit  which 
prevailed  extensively  thirty  years  ago  among  some 
influential  men  of  the  General  Synod.  It  was  an 
un-Lutheran,  unchurchly,  semi-rationalistic  spirit, 
which  happily  began  to  die  with  the  death  of  its 
authors  and  abettors. 

During  the  year  1880,  or  perhaps  a  little  before, 
the  LntJieraner,  the  organ  of  the  "  Missourians, " 
came  out  boldly  and  strongly  in  defense  of  a  phase 
of  Calvinism  quite  startling  to  the  Church.  The 
doctrine  was  advocated  in  a  long  series  of  able 
articles,  which  excited  much  interest  among  the 
Germans  especially.  Most  of  the  "  Missourians  " 
adopted  the  views  set  forth  by  their  influential 
leader,  Prof.  Walther,  but  a  few  opposed  him,  and 
this  led  to  the  establishment  of  a  new  paper,  edited 
by  Prof.  Schmidt,  who  was  a  strong  defender  of  the 
old  Lutheran  faith. 

Great  excitement  arose  in  these  different  camps 
of  German  theologians,  leading  to  a  general  meeting 
in  Chicago  to  discuss  the  question,  the  proceedings 
of  which  I  believe  have  never  been  published.  The 
result  was  the  adoption  of  every  proposition  made 
by  Prof.  Walther  and  the  total  discomfiture  of  the 
opposing  party,  as  far  as  voting  was  concerned. 
This  led  to  a  separation  between  that  Synod  of  Ohio 
which  had  warmly  fraternized  with  ' '  Missouri, ' '  and 
the  farther  estrangement  of  a  few  others  which  had 
previously  been  on  good  terms  with  that  Synod,  if 
not  in  actual  connection  with  it. 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  279 

The  English  papers  of  our  Church  have  not  shown 
much  interest  in  this  controversy,  as  well  as  in  many 
other  affairs  relating  to  the  German  churches. 
There  was  an  immense  amount  of  theological  learn- 
ing, acute  logic,  but,  unfortunately,  too  much  con- 
troversial bitterness,  displayed  in  this  discussion. 

In  the  autumn  of  18S0  several  articles  decidedly 
in  favor  of  the  introduction  of  Episcopacy  into  our 
Church  appeared  in  the  LutJieran,  which  were  writ- 
ten by  the  Rev.  J.  Kohler,  an  influential  member  of 
the  Synod  of  Pennsylvania.  He  had  some  coadju- 
tors who  went  so  far  as  to  call  a  meeting  of  all  min- 
isters who  favored  that  measure,  but  the  result  of  it 
was  not  propitious.  The  editor  of  that  paper  made 
no  allusion  to  the  articles,  nor  did  the  Observer.  The 
whole  matter  has  fallen  into  oblivion. 

In  the  early  history  of  the  General  Council  certain 
rules  and  measures  were  adopted  which  have  not 
stood  the  test  of  time.  One  was  ' '  Lutheran  pulpits 
for  Lutheran  ministers,  and  Lutheran  altars  for  Lu- 
theran members."  Whilst  in  general  it  must  be 
admitted  to  be  a  true  principle,  yet  some  of  the 
more  rigid  interpreted  it  as  denying  General  Council 
pulpits  and  communion  to  all  outside  of  that  body, 
but  they  soon  discovered  that  it  could  not  be  carried 
out.  Others  interpret  it  more  liberally,  for  they 
never  heartily  accepted  it,  and  when  that  wonder- 
fully gifted  man,  Dr.  Krauth,  Jr.,  died,  and  his 
potent  influence  was  no  longer  felt,  the  stringency 
of   the   rule   be^an   to   relax.     From  several  other 


280  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

utterances  of  the  Council  in  its  early  fervor  there 
are  broad  departures,  and  ten  years  hence  they  will 
be  entirely  disregarded.  Extreme  high-churchism, 
by  which  I  mean  exclusivism,  will  never  take  deep 
root  among  us,  and  many  good  men  of  the  Council 
have  become  restive  under  the  enactments  of  its 
first  days.  The  fever  has  abated,  and  more  healthy 
symptoms  have  been  developed 

And  yet  as  late  as  1883  some  members  of  the 
Synod  of  Pennsylvania,  who  preached  in  other 
than  Lutheran  pulpits,  during  the  meeting  of  that 
body  in  Norristown,  were  very  severely  called  to 
account  for  this  breach  of  what  they  called  Lutheran 
orthodoxy  by  some  of  their  German  brethren.  The 
Synod,  as  such,  did  not  sympathize  with  these  ex- 
clusives,  and  the  matter  was  fortunately  dropped. 
It  shows,  however,  that  this  exclusive  spirit  still  ex- 
ists to  some  extent  in  that  Synod,  but  I  apprehend 
it  is  confined  to  a  few  foreigners,  who  happily  have 
very  little  influence. 

This  brings  to  my  mind  a  little  incident  within  my 
own  experience.  I  once  attended  a  meeting  of  the 
General  Council  in  Philadelphia — it  must  have  been 
about  1875  or  1876 — when  I  preached  for  a  promi- 
nent member  of  that  body  who  had  previously  in- 
vited me  by  letter.  I  resisted  for  some  time,  assur- 
ing my  friend  that  it  would  occasion  him  trouble, 
and  also  upon  the  ground  that  it  would  seem  to  be 
discourteous  to  members  of  the  Council  to  invite  an 
outsider  to  his  pulpit  when  there  would  be  so  many 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  281 

of  those  present  who  would  naturally  expect  to  be 
invited.  He  insisted  upon  it,  and  I  yielded.  I  sus- 
pect it  was  a  species  of  banter  on  his  part,  for  he 
professed  to  be  very  independent,  and  would  not  be 
governed  by  the  restrictive  rule.  The  next  day  one 
of  the  leading  members  mentioned  the  fact  before 
the  Council,  in  terms  of  strong  disapprobation,  that 
a  member  of  the  General  Synod  had  been  invited  by 
one  of  their  own  body  to  preach  in  his  pulpit.  This 
displeased  me  at  first,  and  I  wrote  to  the  gentleman, 
inquiring  whether  his  objection  to  my  preaching  was 
based  upon  personal  grounds  ?  He  replied  in  the 
most  courteous  manner,  expressing  the  highest  per- 
sonal regard  for  me,  and  stated  that  he  thought  it 
was  an  act  of  discourtesy  to  the  Council  for  any 
minister  of  that  body,  during  the  time  of  its  meet- 
ing, to  invite  a  non-member  to  preach  when  there 
were  so  many  present  who  had  superior  claims  to 
that  distinction  on  account  of  their  membership,  but 
on  no  other  ground.  I  think  he  was  right,  and  told 
him  so. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Council  in  1884,  held  at 
Monroe,  an  obscure  town  in  Michigan,  some  of  its 
members  accepted  invitations  to  preach  in  English 
Presbyterian  and  other  churches  in  the  place. 
Towards  the  end  of  the  session  the  pastor  of  the 
place  introduced  a  resolution  of  censure  of  those 
large-hearted  brethren  who  considered  it  no  sin  to 
preach  the  gospel,  even  to  Presbyterians!  Now, 
here   was   a   dilemma.      The   majority  felt   that   it 


282  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

would  be  disgraceful  to  pass  the  resolution,  and  yet 
here  was  the  rule  staring  them  in  the  face,  "  Luth- 
eran pulpits  for  Lutheran  preachers,"  which  rule 
these  liberal  Council  men  had  violated.  How  to 
get  out  of  the  dilemma  was  the  question.  It  was 
adroitly  done  by  the  leaders  who  control  all  the 
business,  by  moving  that  the  resolution  be  laid  upon 
the  table,  inasmuch  as  the  "  offenders  "  were  not 
present  to  vindicate  themselves,  and  it  was  not 
known  in  what  manner  these  services  were  con- 
ducted, and  above  all,  as  the  protest  was  not  against 
the  action  of  the  General  Council,  but  merely 
against  individuals,  therefore  resolved  that  the 
paper  be  laid  upon  the  table. 

It  was  a  dexterous  way  of  getting  rid  of  the 
troublesome  affair,  but  they  will  have  the  same  diffi- 
culty wherever  the  Synod  or  Council  meets  until  the 
principle  be  abandoned  or  it  becomes  obsolete. 

At  a  subsequent  meeting  of  the  Council  it  was 
resolved  that  hereafter  no  member  during  the  meet- 
ing shall  be  permitted  to  preach  in  a  non-Lutheran 
pulpit  except  by  permission  of  the  pastor  loci.  This 
amounts  to  a  surrender  of  personal  rights  to  the 
control  of  one  man,  who  may  not  be  favorable  to 
the  permission. 

When  I  entered  the  ministry  in  1826,  what  is 
called  distinctive  Lutheranism  was  not  a  subject  of 
thought,  much  less  of  discussion.  A  few  of  the 
older  clergy  were  probably  orthodox  on  the  sacra- 
ments, but  they  gave  themselves  no  trouble  about 


AX    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  2S3 

bringing  their  views  prominently  forward,  either  in 
their  sermons  or  in  writing.  I  know  that  Dr.  J.  G. 
Schmucker,  of  York,  was  a  genuine  Lutheran,  for  it 
was  his  explanation  of  the  Lutheran  doctrine  of  the 
real  presence  in  the  sacrament  that  first  led  me  to 
reflection  upon  that  subject,  and  which  has  more  or 
less  influenced  my  theological  RicJitung  (tendency) 
ever  since.  Sometimes,  owing  to  adverse  associa- 
tions, my  faith  was  shaken,  for  at  first  it  was  not 
very  firm ;  but  when  I  got  beyond  the  influence  of 
living  teachers,  and  began  independent  examina- 
tion, the  old  Scripture  doctrine  would  come  back 
with  double  force. 

I  do  not  know  one  of  the  mediceval  men  of  that 
generation,  and  by  that  I  mean  the  men  who  were 
between  the  old  men  of  the  Church  and  us  young 
men — such  men  as  D.  F.  Schaeffer,  B.  Kurtz,  F. 
Ruthrauff,  A.  Reck,  C.  P.  Krauth,  S.  S.  Schmucker, 
and  a  few  others  of  the  same  period — I  do  not  know 
one  who  laid  any  claim  to  more  than  the  name  of 
Lutheran  except,  perhaps,  D.  F.  Schaeffer  and  C.  P. 
Krauth,  Sr.  Some,  years  after,  became  more  pro- 
nounced, but  still  it  was  a  subject  that  gave  nobody 
•any  trouble  about  propagating  it.  The  same  was 
true  concerning  men  of  that  grade  in  the  old  mother 
Synod,  except,  perhaps,  Mr.  Demme,  of  Philadel- 
phia, and  a  few  others. 

On  the  other  hand,  even  after  the  Seminary  was 
established  at  Gettysburg,  systematic  and  sustained, 
but  covert,  attack  upon  the  Symbolical  Books  was 


284  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

made.  The  result  was  that  the  books  were  not 
regarded  with  favor  by  many  of  the  ministers  and 
students,  and  very  many  did  not  accept  the  doctrine 
of  the  sacraments  as  taught  in  the  Lutheran  Church. 
This  continued  to  be  the  state  of  affairs  for  many 
years.  There  were  some  that  were  true  Lutherans 
despite  these  adverse  circumstances.  Strange  to 
say,  not  a  few  underwent  a  sort  of  reacting  process, 
and  absolutely  were  converted  to  the  true  church 
doctrine  by  the  very  agency  diligently  employed  to 
deter  them  from  it.  These  men  did  not  venture  to 
be  demonstrative,  but  so  soon  as  they  -became  free 
from  the  painful  shackles  by  which  they  were  fet- 
tered, they  professed  the  true  doctrine. 

A  large  number,  however,  were  Zwinglians  (not 
even  Calvinists)  on  the  sacraments.  That  is,  they 
were  not  Lutherans,  and  were  satisfied  with  oppos- 
ing the  doctrines  of  the  Church  without  bothering 
themselves  about  any  school  of  theology. 

This  unhappy  state  of  things  continued  for  some 
years.  At  length  that  secretly  begotten  abortion, 
the  ' '  Definite  Platform, ' '  appeared,  and  this  aroused 
a  wholesome  controversy,  not  so  much  on  the  doc- 
trines reprobated  in  it  as  upon  the  inexpediency  of 
altering  the  Confessions  and  disturbing  the  harmony 
of  the  Church.  The  discussion  led  many  men  to 
reflection  upon  the  subject  in  general,  and  the  issue 
was  precisely  the  contrary  from  what  was  intended 
by  the  projectors  of  that  mischievous  experiment. 
From  that  day  there  can  be  traced  a  gradual  change, 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  285 

and  the  more  sure  and  permanent  from  the  fact  of 
its  being  slow.  At  present  (January,  1884,)  ortho- 
dox Lutheran  ministers  in  the  General  Synod  can  be 
counted  by  the  hundreds.  As  chief  examiner  of 
those  students  who  have  been  licensed  by  the  Synod 
of  Maryland  for  more  than  20  years,  I  have  been 
gratified  by  the  gradual  improvement  in  this  respect, 
very  different  from  my  experience  of  35  or  more 
years  ago,  when  a  student  absolutely  lost  his  temper 
at  some  questions  on  the  sacraments  I  put  to  him, 
and  intimated  that  those  old  doctrines  had  become 
"obsolete,"  "effete;"  and  I  remember  also  how 
Charles  P.  Krauth,  Jr.,  who  afterwards  became  one 
of  our  mightiest  men,  sitting  beside  his  fellow- 
student,  rebuked  him,  in  a  subdued  voice,  for  his 
impertinence  and  ill  manners.  He  never  amounted 
to  much  in  the  Church,  and  died  early.* 

Most  of  the  other  Synods,  in  which  the  American 
element  predominates,  also  rejoice  in  evidences  of 
improvement  in  this  direction.  Even  in  those  in 
the  General  Synod,  in  which  heretofore  there  was  a 
lamentable  looseness  on  our  distinctive  points,  you 
will  find  men  who  are  returning  to  the  faith  of  the 
Church,  and  rejoicing  in  it. 

My  little  treatise  on  The  Lutheran  Doctrine  of  the 
Real  Presence  in  the  Lord's  Supper  (1883)  was 
kindly  received  by  many,  and  I  was  surprised  and 
greatly  gratified  to  receive  commendations  of  it  from 
men  of  whom  I  did  not  expect  it. 

*  For  a  full  history  of  it,  see  "  Fifty  Years,"  p.  337. 


286  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

I  cannot  more  forcibly  illustrate  this  wholesome 
change  than  by  quoting  the  language  of  the  same 
man  in  1870  and  1883.  "  Ex  uno  discc  multos." 
In  speaking  in  a  printed  book  of  the  leader  of  the 
low  Lutheran  school,  he  says:  "We are  among  those 
who  endorsed  his  views,  and  cannot  but  regret  that 
his  clear,  Scriptural  and  liberal  views  did  not  pre- 
vail in  the  Lutheran  church.  We  still  hope  and 
pray  that  his  .  .  .  views  will,  after  some  time  be 
past,  be  endorsed  by  the  Lutheran  Church  in  Amer- 
ica."  And  hear  this  same  man  in  1883 — in  speaking 
of  the  same  men  and  times,  he  says :  ' '  Our  Church 
became  the  servile  imitator  of  others.  Her  own 
glorious  doctrines  she  either  explained  away  or 
ignored  altogether.  In  conforming  to  the  views  of 
others  she  had  to  reject  her  doctrine  of  baptism  and 
the  Lord's  Supper.  The  glorious  Confessions  were 
thrown  aside.  .  .  .  The  great  Confession  of  our 
Church  was  scarcely  looked  at,  and  the  other  Sym- 
bolical Books  were  only  read  to  be  condemned.  .  .  . 
A  wild,  un-Lutheran  spirit  prevailed  ...  but  how 
great  a  change  has  taken  place  in  our  doctrinal 
position." 

Hundreds  of  our  ministers  would  make  the  same 
acknowledgment  if  any  occasion  rendered  it  neces- 
sary. 

PROGRESS. 

One  of  the  most  gratifying  evidences  of  our 
growth  in  this  country,  and  of  advancing  intelli- 
gence, is  the  large  number  of  periodical  publications 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  287 

(every  one  of  which  is  of  a  decidedly  religious  char- 
acter), of  colleges,  theological  seminaries,  orphans' 
houses  and  hospitals.  There  are  also  24  academies, 
most  of  which  are  under  synodical  control,  and  there 
are  12  or  13  seminaries  for  females,  which  are  con- 
ducted by  individuals  for  their  personal  advantage, 
but  none  of  which,  as  far  as  I  know,  is  under  synod- 
ical management,  and  hence  I  would  not  designate 
them  as  Church  institutions  properly  speaking, 
though  highly  worthy  of  mention  in  a  chapter  on 
Progress. 

When  I  entered  the  ministry  there  was  not  a  single 
incorporated  college,  that  is,  which  had  the  power 
of  conferring  degrees  and  was  manned  by  a  regular 
Faculty;  there  was  only  one  theological  seminary 
besides  Hartwick,  but  this  latter  was  of  extremely 
limited  influence  and  patronage ;  there  were  but  two 
periodicals,  and  they  were  monthlies,  one  of  which 
was  continued  only  one  year,  and  the  other  main- 
tained at  a  heavy  loss ;  there  were  no  orphan  houses 
and  no  high  academies  controlled  by  the  Church, 
and  no  schools  of  a  high  grade  for  the  education  of 
ladies. 

But  what  is  the  present  condition  of  things  ?  We 
have  now  (1884)  90  periodicals,  from  weekly  to  an- 
nual, 31  of  which  are  English,  35  German,  12  Nor- 
wegian, 8  Swedish,  3  Danish,  and  1  Icelandic* 

We  have  18  theological  seminaries,  16  colleges,  22 
orphan   houses   and   hospitals,    and    11    schools   for 

*  In  1895  there  were  150. 


288  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

females,  although  the  latter  are  not  really  under 
Church  control.* 

These  are  interesting  and  cheering  signs  of  pro- 
gress, though  it  may  be  doubted  whether  the  multi- 
plication of  schools,  especially  colleges  and  semina- 
ries for  theology,  is  the  best  policy.  But  this  defect 
cannot  be  remedied,  and  all  discussion  upon  the 
subject  would  lead  to  no  good  result,  excepting 
enlightening  the  Church  upon  an  acknowledged 
evil. 

Whilst  we  have  been  making  progress  in  some 
directions,  yet  we  are  still  far  behind  in  others.  I 
have  reason  to  think  that  very  few  of  our  clergy  are 
real  students ;  many  of  them,  no  doubt,  are  readers 
of  popular  books  and  newspapers,  but  I  know  very 
few  are  prosecuting  higher  studies,  so  that  if  there 
weie  vacancies  in  some  of  our  professorships,  for 
instance,  it  would  not  be  an  easy  thing  to  fill  them 
with  first-class  men.  Ordinary  men  enough  can  be 
had,  but  that  is  not  the  kind  that  the  present  state 
of  learning  demands.  Too  few  of  our  men  buy 
standard  books;  even  the  English  translation  of 
Schmid's  Dogmatik  has  sold  very  slowly;  perhaps 
iooo  copies  have  been  disposed  of,  and  yet  this 
book  is  almost  indispensable  to  a  Lutheran  theo- 
logian, f     The  same  may  be  said  of  the  sale  of  some 

*  In  1895  there  were  106. 

f  I  am  pleased  to  hear  that  a  new  and  improved  edition  of  this 
great  work  is  in  course  of  preparation  by  its  learned  translators. 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  289 

other  English  books  printed  in  this  country,  al- 
though of  not  such  commanding-  interest  to  the 
scholar  as  Schmid. 

Neither  do  large  numbers  of  our  clergy  seem  to 
feel  any  concern  in  extra  measures  for  the  advance- 
ment of  the  Church  in  influence  and  respectability. 
The  Diets,  for  instance,  awakened  very  little  besides 
local  interest.  Some  men  even  opposed  them ;  but 
I  never  heard  of  any  opposition  worth  listening  to 
except  from  men  who  were  not  invited  to  read 
papers,  and  they  were  confined  to  one  section  of 
the  Church. 

Even  when  the  opinion  of  influential  men  on  cer- 
tain matters  proposed  in  the  papers  is  invited,  nobody 
responds.  I  know  a  man  who,  distrustful  of  his  own 
judgment  on  several  important  subjects,  asked  for 
light,  and  no  one  deigned  to  notice  his  request, 
which  led  him  to  remark  that  his  brethren  were  as 
stupid  as  himself,  which  was  perhaps  true ! 

D.    D. 'S    IN    OUR    CHURCH. 

Before  the  establishment  of  colleges  in  our  Church, 
and  before  we  had  any  authority  of  conferring  lit- 
erary honors,  there  were  not  more  than  six  or  eight 
of  our  men  who  bore  these  titles.  One  reason  was 
that  the  number  of  our  ministers  was  very  small, 
and  the  other  was  that  very  few  of  them,  compara- 
tively, were  thoroughly  educated  men. 

But  when  our  institutions  were  empowered  to  be- 
stow these  dignities  and  our  ministry  had  been  in- 
19 


290  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

creasing  for  years,  the  titles  of  D.  D.  and  A.  M.  were 
unsparingly  conferred.  It  is  not  for  me  to  say  any- 
thing about  the  fitness  of  most  of  these  men,  but 
this  I  know,  that  of  many  of  the  men  honored  with 
the  title  of  D.  D.  very  few  would  be  chosen  by  the 
same  Board  as  teachers  of  theology  in  any  seminary. 

I  know,  and  so  do  others,  that  not  a  few  were  thus 
titled  for  the  services  they  had  rendered  or  were  ex- 
pected to  render  the  Church  and  college — some  in 
accordance  with  the  earnest  solicitation  of  friends, 
some  in  compliance  with  their  own  importunate 
though  secret  requests.  But  all  of  our  colleges 
have  become  more  careful,  and  for  the  last  few 
years  the  roll  of  the  distinguished  has  not  been 
inconveniently  increased. 

I  presume  there  is  scarcely  any  influential  mem- 
ber of  our  college  Boards  who  does  not  every  year 
receive  a  gentle  request  or  recommendation  in  that 
direction,  but  there  seems  to  be  a  set  purpose  not 
to  spend  any  more  of  the  college  funds  in  buying 
diplomas  for  eminent  theologians! 

I  opposed  most  of  these  nominations  in  the  Col- 
lege Board,  and  it  was  because  I  did  not  want  to  aid 
in  cheapening  the  title ;  and,  secondly,  because  most 
of  the  nominees  did  not  come  up  to  my  standard; 
and,  thirdly,  there  were  so  many  others  equally  en- 
titled to  it  on  the  basis  assumed  by  their  friends, 
and  why  discriminate  ? 

But  some  may  ask,  "  How  was  it  in  relation  to 
yourself  ?  "     It  was  just  so.     I  challenge  any  one  to 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  29 1 

say  that  I  ever,  by  letter  or  any  other  way,  accepted 
any  of  the  college  titular  honors  bestowed  upon  me. 
No  such  letter  will  be  found  noticed  upon  the  Sec- 
retary's record  nor  anywhere  else ;  and  if  my  name 
sometimes  appears  in  print  with  these  suffixes,  I  have 
never  authorized  the  use  of  them.  Hence  I  felt  free 
to  vote  against  Doctoring  some  men  whom  neither  I 
nor  anybody  else  deemed  fit  for  the  distinction,  but 
who  were  nominated  for  reasons  very  different  from 
those  of  literary  or  theological  qualification. 

Dr.  Schaff  once  told  me  that  you  would  hardly 
make  a  mistake  in  calling  every  Dutch  Reformed 
minister  Doctor.  It  has  not  yet  become  quite  as  bad 
among  us,  but  I  know  a  man  who  once  made  the 
experiment  at  one  of  our  Synods.  He  was  rather  a 
stranger,  and  did  not  intimately  know  all  the  men. 
He  was  corrected  in  only  a  few  instances,  I  was  once 
a  guest  of  a  highly  esteemed  Dutch  Reformed  min- 
ister, and  I  called  him  Doctor,  which  title  he  said  he 
was  not  honored  with.  I  told  him  the  above  incident 
in  justification.  He  did  not  deny  the  truth  of  it. 
It  would  not  do  to  reveal  the  proceedings  of  College 
Boards,  but  some  queer  stories  might  be  told  in  re- 
lation to  this  matter.  And  yet,  to  the  credit  of 
many  of  our  titled  clergy,  it  may  be  said  that  they 
are  equal,  and  in  many  cases  superior,  to  the  similar 
class  of  men  in  other  churches.  We  have  compara- 
tively as  many  good  scholars  and  thoroughly  bred 
theologians  as  they  have. 


292  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

CATECHISATION,    PASTORAL    VISITING,    AND    OTHER 
FUNCTIONS. 

Every  year  of  my  pastoral  life  at  the  First  church 
I  instructed  a  class  in  the  catechism,  and  confirmed 
those  whom  I  could  with  a  good  conscience  admit  to 
the  full  privileges  of  membership.  I  occasionally 
gave  great  offence  "by  rejecting  some,  especially  the 
children  of  Germans  whose  parents  did  not  belong 
to  my  church,  but  who  sent  their  children  to  my 
class  because  they  understood  English  better  than 
German.  They  were  generally  very  young,  that  is, 
twelve  to  fourteen,  and  I  soon  found  out  that  the 
design  was  not  so  much  Christian  instruction  with 
a  view  to  salvation  as  conformity  to  ancient  custom 
and  mere  ancestral  habit.  Now,  whilst  it  is  true 
that  some  of  these  were  deeply  impressed  with  the 
truth,  and  were  confirmed  by  me,  yet  others  merely 
learned  the  lessons  as  they  would  a  school  task,  and 
the  sooner  it  was  over  the  better.  Personal  religion 
made  no  part  of  the  business,  but  it  was  a  merely 
mechanical  process  from  beginning  to  end.  Such  I 
did  not  confirm,  and  the  parents  were  much  dis- 
pleased. 

I  sometimes  preached  a  sermon  on  this  subject  on 
the  Sunday  before  I  opened  the  class,  in  which  I 
carefully  explained  the  whole  matter,  and  I  found 
it  always  had  a  good  effect. 

Successful  catechising  is  not  an  easy  thing,  and 
hence  it  should  be  studied.  From  what  I  have 
heard,  it  is  frequently  performed  in  a  slip-shod  sort 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  293 

of  manner,  which  is  far  from  being  edifying.  Men 
who  have  never  heard  lectures  upon  it  should  care- 
fully read  some  treatise  from  which  they  might  learn 
much.  The  only  English  book  on  this  subject  by 
any  of  our  men  which  I  now  remember  is  one  by 
Dr.  Zeigler,  which  is  said  to  be  good. 

I  wish  this  old-time  churcn  custom  were  universal. 
I  am  persuaded  the  cause  would  gain  much,  and  it 
is  gratifying  to  hear  that  it  is  becoming  more  popu- 
lar in  some  new  sections  of  the  Church  where  it  was 
formerly  almost  unknown. 

I,  however,  admitted  by  confirmation  some  per- 
sons to  membership  who  had  never  been  catechised 
according  to  the  good  old  system,  and  I  presume 
this  is  the  practice  of  most  ministers.  They  may 
be  persons  intelligent  in  the  Scriptures,  familiar  with 
our  church  customs,  and  truly  pious,  whom  no  man 
has  a  right  to  debar  from  any  church  privilege,  even 
if  in  their  case  the  old  custom  is  not  observed.  The 
end  of  catechetical  instruction  is  already  secured  in 
them,  for  they  know  the  Scriptures,  practice  the 
Christian  duties,  and  lead  godly  lives. 

I  have  never  insisted  upon  confirmation  in  the 
case  of  those  who  joined  our  communion  from  other 
churches ;  for,  recognizing  their  church  membership 
elsewhere,  confirmation  would  have  been  a  super- 
fluous form. 

I  remember  a  case  or  two  of  persons  who  united 
with  us  as  a  church  for  the  first  time,  who  were  not 
of  Lutheran  parentage,  and  who  objected  to  con- 


294  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

firmation  on  the  ground  of  its  being-  a  mere  cere- 
mony. I  earnestly  argued  the  question  with  them, 
and  when  I  showed  them  that  their  objection  was 
groundless  they  yielded.  I  found  that  the  objection 
was  based  upon  an  unwillingness  to  come  out  singly 
before  the  church  to  make  a  confession,  inasmuch  as 
they  had  done  what  was  equivalent  to  that  before. 
In  several  cases  I  yielded  as  a  matter  of  expediency, 
as  no  principle  was  involved. 

Some  men  make  a  difference  between  pastoral 
and  social  visiting.  By  the  former  they  mean  a 
visit  of  a  purely  religious  character,  when  nothing 
but  religion  was  spoken,  and  which  usually,  when 
convenient,  was  concluded  with  prayer.  By  social 
visiting  they  mean  a  polite  call,  with  inquiries  into 
the  condition  of  the  family's  health  and  gossip  in 
general.  If  religion  was  introduced  at  all,  it  was 
merely  adventitious,  and  was  not  more  personal  or 
practical  than  the  necessity  of  getting  a  new  organ 
or  other  church  improvement. 

How  absurdly  such  men  must  feel  when  they  go 
to  make  a  pastoral  visit  and  think  that  now  nothing 
but  religion  must  be  talked  of,  and  the  following 
week  at  the  social  call  there  must  be  as  little  religion 
as  possible  introduced.  This  is  mechanical,  arti- 
ficial, and  unscriptural.  A  judicious  mingling  of 
both  at  all  visits  is  the  best  course,  and  a  sensible 
man  can  easily  so  arrange  it.  My  pastoral  practice 
for  years  was  to  have  singing  and  prayer  at  the 
breaking  up  of  every  social  gathering  where  at  all 
practicable,  and  it  always  had  a  good  effect. 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  295 

I  have  known  a  few  men  who,  on  their  first  visits 
to  their  people,  had  prayers  with  every  family.  I 
know  an  elder  who  accompanied  his  pastor  during 
his  rounds  to  show  him  where  the  people  lived,  who 
said  that  "  the  pastor  had  him  on  his  knees  seven- 
teen times  in  one  day. ' '  Some  of  the  good  people 
rejoiced  that  now  at  last  they  had  secured  a  good 
pastor,  for  he  prayed  with  them  on  his  first  visit ;  but 
they  never  saw  that  pious  exercise  repeated,  for  he 
seldom  or  never  called  to  see  them  again,  and  if  he 
did  the  time  was  spent  in  frivolous  talk. 

It  is  not  always  judicious  or  opportune  to  intro- 
duce personal  religious  appeals  to  unbelievers,  whilst 
it  is  very  easy  and  natural  to  bring  up  the  subject 
before  Christians.  What  is  more  pleasing  than  to 
converse  with  such  on  their  own  personal  religious 
condition  and  the  affairs  of  the  kingdom  generally? 

I  once  knew  a  zealous  but  verdant  young  minister 
who  was  very  faithful  in  his  pastoral  attentions  to 
the  sick.  He  had  noticed  the  absence  from  church 
for  some  time  of  one  of  the  best  young  married 
women  of  his  congregation,  and  upon  being  in- 
formed that  she  was  sick,  he  hastened  to  her  house  to 
discharge  his  ministerial  functions.  He  was  admitted 
to  the  lady's  chamber,  and  at  once  began  his  service 
for  the  sick,  accompanied  with  the  usual  exhorta- 
tions to  resignation  and  the  merciful  designs  of 
heaven  in  afflicting  His  most  faithful  people.  He 
earnestly  prayed  that  God  would  not  permit  this 
sickness   to    be   unto   death,    but    that    she    might 


296  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

speedily  recover  to  resume  her  position  in  the 
church  and  Sunday-school  and  her  family.  He 
prayed  for  her  young  husband  that  he  might  be 
prepared  for  the  terrible  calamity  which  the  terrible 
death  of  his  young  wife  might  bring  upon  him,  and 
heartily  commended  all  to  the  loving  mercy  of  the 
heavenly  Father.  He  observed  a  lack  of  sympathy 
in  the  company  of  friends  in  the  sick  room,  and  it 
was  not  until  he  had  left  the  house  that  he  learned 
that  the  young  mother,  her  husband,  parents, 
brothers  and  sisters,  and  the  whole  relationship  were 
rejoicing  in  the  happy  birth  of  a  bouncing  fat  baby, 
and  that  a  preliminary  funeral  service  was  not  ex- 
actly in  order ! ! ! 

Of  course  the  report  spread,  and  the  verdant  par- 
son was  laughed  at  for  his  simplicity,  though  every- 
body gave  him  credit  for  zeal.  He  afterwards  said 
himself  that  he  heard  something  like  an  infantile 
whimpering  under  a  snow-white  covering  by  the 
side  of  the  sick  mother ! ! ! 

I  knew  an  inexperienced  young  brother  who  once 
visited  a  sick  woman,  with  whom  he  earnestly  prayed. 
As  he  was  rising  from  his  knees  at  her  bedside,  she, 
with  pious  fervor,  threw  her  arms  around  his  neck, 
and  almost  drew  him  down.  He  was  shocked  next 
day  to  hear  that  she  was  suffering  from  mania  a  pot u  ! 

LUTHER    MEMORIAL    MEETINGS    IN    1 883. 

The  occurrence  of  the  400th  birth-year  of  Luther, 
on  November  10,    1883,   awakened  a  very  lively  in- 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  297 

terest  in  our  Church  as  early  as  the  fall  of  1882. 
The  Synods  which  met  at  that  season  adopted 
measures  towards  a  general  celebration  of  the 
event,  most  of  which  have  been  very  creditably 
carried  out.  A  few  Synods  seemed  to  be  indifferent 
about  it,  but  they  were  those  who  were  lax  in  doc- 
trine or  deficient  in  energy  of  every  kind. 

All  through  the  year  our  church  papers  contained 
numerous  articles  on  Luther.  Scarcely  a  number 
was  issued  that  did  not  set  forth  some  trait  of  his 
character  or  some  fact  connected  with  his  history. 
The  Observer  even  published  a  biography  in  weekly 
portions,  but  I  do  not  think  the  people  grew  weary 
of  the  theme,  although  there  was  necessarily  much 
repetition  of  well-known  facts. 

During  this  year  there  were  published  independ- 
ently of  the  church  papers  more  than  100  books, 
tracts,  sermons,  poems,  and  addresses  concerning 
Luther,  and  I  suppose  that  most  of  them  were  read. 
Many  of  our  ministers  preached  discourses  to  their 
people,  so  that  much  useful  and  interesting  infor- 
mation was  disseminated,  and  they  were  always 
ready  to  receive  more. 

The  most  popular  demonstrations  of  this  kind 
were  the  gatherings  of  a  number  of  neighboring 
congregations  in  a  grove,  and  on  several  occasions 
there  were  as  many  as  4,000  people  present.  These 
were  held  at  places  easily  accessible  by  railroads, 
and  it  was  not  hard  to  collect  large  crowds.  They 
were   conducted   on  the  picnic  fashion,  each  family 


298  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

bringing  its  own  provisions,  but  the  religious  exer- 
cises were  of  an  inspiring  nature.  There  were 
bands  of  musicians,  besides  church  choirs,  and  in 
most  cases  an  organ.  Committees  had  been  pre- 
viously appointed  to  make  arrangements,  prepare 
program,  select  subjects,  and  appoint  speakers. 
The  programs  were  printed,  so  that  there  was  no 
confusion.  The  subjects  all  related  to  Luther,  and 
a  specific  portion  of  time  was  allotted  to  each 
speaker,  which,  however,  was  not  always  observed. 
The  whole  day  was  devoted  to  the  demonstration, 
and  the  occasions  were  hugely  enjoyed.  Hundreds 
of  people  came  on  foot,  and  hundreds  more  in  their 
own  vehicles,  whilst  the  majority  came  by  rail. 

The  first  one  was  held  at  Rupert,  near  Catawissa, 
Pa.,  at  which  I  was  present,  and  this  was  followed 
by  many  others  in  various  sections  of  the  country. 
I  was  invited  to  six,  but  owing  to  the  distance  I  at- 
tended only  three.  Usually  all  our  ministers  from 
near  and  far  were  present.  I  began — but  not  quite 
soon  enough — a  collection  of  newspaper  cuttings  on 
this  subject,  with  illustrations,  from  all  the  sources 
accessible  to  me.  I  bought  the  foreign  journals, 
and  many  of  our  own  country,  which  contained 
anything  upon  the  subject,  and  in  the  course  of 
some  weeks  I  gathered  an  immense  number  of 
scraps,  which  I  pasted  in  a  large  folio  volume.  I 
think  this  is  unique,  and  it  is  essential  to  any  man 
who  desires  to  write  an  account  of  the  extraordinary 
Luther  celebration  of  1883. 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  299 

LUTHER    STATUE. 

The  subject  of  a  Luther  statue  had  been  barely 
mentioned  eight  or  ten  years  before  the  fact  mater- 
ialized. I  timidly  proposed  it  in  the  Observer,  not 
very  sure  of  a  favorable  hearing. 

I  estimated  the  cost  at  $10,000,  but  my  proposi- 
tion met  with  no  cheering  response,  and  though 
chagrined  I  was  not  disappointed.  I  was  then  sat- 
isfied with  bringing  out  my  plaster  statuette  of  the 
Reformer,  which  some  of  his  admirers  will  perhaps 
remember,  and  on  which  I  of  course  lost  money. 
It  was  three  feet  high,  and  was  modeled  after  vari- 
ous engraved  likenesses  and  busts  by  a  skillful  artist 
in  that  department  of  work.  There  is  a  copy  in  the 
Seminary  at  Gettysburg,  which  was  presented  by  a 
friend  now  deceased. 

It  was  not  until  the  approach  of  the  Luther  com- 
memoration day  of  1883,  or  a  year  or  two  before, 
that  the  erection  of  a  Luther  statue  was  seriously 
entertained.  Several  active  laymen  in  New  York, 
consisting  of  such  ardent  and  liberal  Luther  admir- 
ers as  Charles  A.  Schieren,  now  Mayor  of  Brooklyn, 
A.  J.  D.  Wedemeyer,  and  J.  Dobler,  especially,  laid 
hold  of  it  with  vigor,  and  a  few  of  us  in  Baltimore 
fell  in  with  the  measure,  among  whom  Gustavus  A. 
Dobler  deserves  special  mention  for  his  energy  and 
liberality  in  prosecuting  the  cause.  We  constituted 
ourselves  a  committee,  for  there  was  no  one  else  to 
appoint  us,  and  I  have  found  in  various  analogous 
cases  that  this  is  the  best  way  of  accomplishing  im- 


3°° 


LIrE    REMINISCENCES    OF 


portant  enterprises.  Secure  the  interest  of  a  few 
persevering,  intelligent,  whole-souled  men,  and  then 
lay  your  plans  and  proceed.  You  will  soon  find 
helpers,  who  will  be  glad  that  you  saved  them  the 
delay  and  annoyance  of  framing  a  constitution  and 
electing  officers  and  pushing  the  machine  into 
motion.  This  committee  consisted  of  myself,  G.  A. 
Dobler,  J.  G.  Butler  and  George  Ryneal,  of  Mary- 
land and  the  District  of  Columbia;  A.  J.  D.  Wede- 
meyer,  C.  A.  Schieren  and  J.  Dobler,  of  New  York, 
and  Daniel  Fox,  Esq.,  of  Philadelphia. 

Through  the  kind  offices  of  Mr.  Sutro  I  corres- 
ponded with  the  sculptor  Prof.  Lenz,  of  Nurnberg, 
and  got  his  proposal  for  a  life-size  statue.  G.  A. 
Dobler  also  wrote  to  the  foundry  at  Lauchheimer, 
and  received  very  favorable  proposals  for  a  fac-simile 
statue  of  that  in  the  Luther  group  at  Worms.  This 
was  accepted  by  the  committee  at  $4,500,  to  be  de- 
livered at  any  German  port  most  desirable  to  us. 
The  bargain  was  consummated  by  telegraph,  and  a 
considerable  part  of  the  money  paid  immediately, 
which  specimen  of  American  promptness  greatly 
astonished  and  gratified  the  German  artists.  Dur- 
ing the  summer  of  1883  one  of  our  committee,  Mr. 
Wedemeyer,  during  a  visit  to  Germany,  spent  sev- 
eral days  at  the  foundry ,  and  gave  all  particular 
directions  as  to  transportation.  He  had  frequent 
consultations  with  the  gentlemen  connected  with 
that  great  establishment,  and  all  things  were  satis- 
factory.    The  work  required  longer  time  than  we 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  30I 

expected,  and  hence  the  unveiling  was  necessarily 
retarded.  We  hoped  to  have  it  ready  by  November 
10,  1883  (the  400th  birthday  of  Luther),  but  it  did 
not  arrive  here  until  April,  1884.  The  steamship 
company  charged  no  freight,  and  on  my  application 
to  Mr.  Garrett,  President  of  the  B.  &  O.  R.  R.,  he 
cheerfully  offered  to  transport  it  to  Washington.  It 
is  proper  here  to  state  that  the  Pennsylvania  road 
had  offered  the  same  favor  to  me  through  one  of  its 
officers,  but  the  statue  was  landed  within  a  few  yards 
of  the  B.  &  O.,  and  hence  the  loading  was  more 
convenient. 

The  press  reporters  in  the  city,  always  looking 
out  for  something  fresh,  were  much  concerned 
about  it,  and  I  had  numerous  calls  for  information. 
We  expected  it  by  every  German  steamer  coming  to 
Baltimore  for  several  weeks  before  its  arrival,  and 
the  fact  of  the  non-arrival  was  duly  heralded  with 
much  earnestness,  and  thus  the  excitement  was  kept 
up.  When  it  finally  came  it  was  welcomed  with 
eclat,  and  the  fact  was  telegraphed  all  over  the 
country.  The  21st  of  May  was  selected  for  the  day 
of  unveiling,  and  all  our  energies  were  directed 
towards  that  consummation.  The  pedestal  had 
previously  been  contracted  for,  and  everything  was 
expected  to  be  ready.  For  some  weeks  previous  a 
sub-committee  was  busily  engaged  in  selecting  and 
engaging  speakers  and  other  persons  to  participate 
in  the  proceedings.  Dr.  Butler  deserves  the  credit 
of  almost  exclusively  carrying  on  the  large  corres- 


302  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

pondence  and  attending-  to  the  numerous  and  often 
vexatious  details.  He  worked  faithfully  for  weeks 
in  superintending  the  erection  of  the  pedestal  and 
all  other  necessary  arrangements,  and  has  the  satis- 
faction of  knowing  that  his  onerous  duties  were  well 
performed. 

Some  of  the  gentlemen  invited  to  take  active  part 
in  the  services  declined,  and  others  were  selected. 
We  aimed  at  having  nearly  every  section  of  the 
Church  represented,  and  the  individual  selection 
was  not  an  easy  task.  A  few  who  were  proposed 
by  some  members  of  the  committee  were  rejected 
by  the  rest,  for  some  of  us  were  determined  that  no 
minister  of  our  Church  should  speak  on  that  occa- 
sion who  had  either  opposed  the  enterprise  or  was 
indifferent  to  it,  or  who  was  unsound  as  a  Lutheran, 
and  for  these  reasons  several  otherwise  respectable 
gentlemen's  names  did  not  appear  on  our  program. 

The  public  exercises  were  performed  by  the  fol- 
lowing gentlemen:  On  Sunday  night  (May  18)  Dr. 
F.  W.  Conrad  delivered  an  oration  on  Luther,  of  an 
hour  and  a  half's  length,  in  Dr.  Butler's  church. 
On  Tuesday  night  Dr.  J.  Fry,  of  Reading;  Rev.  Dr. 
Gilbert,  of  "Winchester,  Va. ;  Rev.  D.  H.  Geissinger, 
of  Easton,  Pa;  and  Rev.  Dr.  Swartz,  then  of  Get- 
tysburg, Pa.,  and  Hon.  Mr.  Miller,  of  New  York, 
delivered  addresses  in  the  same  church,  and  Rev. 
Dr.  M.  Sheeleigh  read  a  poem.  On  Wednesday 
morning,  May  21,  Rev.  Dr.  Hennighausen,  of  Bal- 
timore,  Revs.  Mohldehnke  and  W'edekind,  of  New 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  303 

York,  delivered  German  addresses,  and  at  the  un- 
veiling, in  the  afternoon  of  the  same  day,  Hon.  Mr. 
Conger,  U.  S.  Senator  from  Michigan,  and  I  deliv- 
ered orations  in  the  open  air  upon  the  platform. 
Chief  Justice  Waite  had  promised  to  unveil  the 
statue,  but  was  sick.  President  Arthur  previously 
declined.  The  committee  had  not  decided  who 
should  draw  the  string  until  we  were  on  the  way 
from  the  church  to  the  platform,  when  I  suggested 
Mr.  Corcoran.  They  agreed,  and  he  consented. 
An  immense  audience  attended  the  ceremonies, 
among  whom  there  were  over  ioo  Lutheran  minis- 
ters. It  was  naturally  expected  that  the  fervor  ex- 
cited upon  this  subject  would  result  in  the  establish- 
ment of  some  other  Lutheran  institution,  but  thus 
far  nothing  has  been  suggested.  I  have  no  doubt 
if  some  influential  man  of  leisure  and  energy  would 
undertake  something  worthy  of  the  Church  he  would 
succeed,  but  he  would  necessarily  have  to  encounter 
opposition,  unless  he  first  secured  the  approbation 
of  certain  gentlemen,  who  will  not  consent  that  any 
individual  should  receive  any  credit  for  any  specific 
work  done.  Besides,  the  Church  has  so  many  other 
enterprises  on  hand  at  present  that  it  would  be  hard 
to  succeed  in  anything  else,  and  yet  who  knows  but 
that  something  great  will  yet  grow  out  of  this  statue 
celebration. 

Many  queer  incidents  occurred  during  these  num- 
erous commemorations,  and  many  good  things  were 
said.     Many  of  our  own  people  learned  more  about 


304  LIFE    REMINISCE^TCES    OF 

Luther  than  they  knew  before,  and  many  outside  of 
our  pale  were  led  to  make  inquiries,  and  some  of 
these  inquiries  were  of  a  very  simple  character.  A 
lady  of  our  Church  told  me  that  after  returning 
from  a  celebration  of  November  10th  she  remarked 
to  a  Presbyterian  lady  neighbor  that  "  she  very 
much  enjoyed  the  commemoration  of  Luther's 
birthday. "  "  Why, ' '  replied  the  neighbor,  ' '  I  never 
knew  you  had  a  son  named  Luther. ' ' 

THE    LUTHER    STATUETTE. 

In  1875,  the  year  before  the  Centennial,  several 
articles  appeared  in  the  Observer  on  the  subject  of 
erecting  a  statue  of  Luther  in  Fairmount  Park, 
Philadelphia,  as  the  Presbyterians  had  resolved  to 
erect  one  of  Dr.  Witherspoon.  I  replied  to  the  first 
article,  highly  approving  of  the  object,  and  giving 
$10,000  as  the  probable  expense  of  an  ordinary  work 
of  art.  The  matter  was  not  prosecuted  further,  but 
this  induced  me  to  have  a  plaster  statuette  of  about 
36  inches  in  height  moulded.  I  thought  it  well  to 
secure  the  interest  and  co-operation  of  several  other 
men,  and  spoke  to  Dr.  F.  W.  Conrad  and  Rev.  Chas. 
A.  Smith,  formerly  of  our  ministry,  but  then  in  the 
Presbyterian  church,  and  both  living  in  Phila- 
delphia. 

We  went  together  to  see  the  reduced  model  of  the 
statue  of  Witherspoon  which  the  sculptor  had  en- 
gaged to  make  for  the  Presbyterians.  The  artist 
was   a    Frenchman,    whose    establishment    was    in 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  305 

Market  street,  and  his  name  was  Bailley.  He 
agreed  to  make  a  mould  for  us  at  $300,  but  could 
not  execute  it  for  some  months,  until  his  return 
from  Central  America.  This  did  not  suit  us.  I 
returned  home  and  engaged  Dr.  Volck,  of  Balti- 
more, on  my  own  account,  but  subject  to  the  final 
acceptance  of  the  two  men  in  Philadelphia.  Dr. 
Volck  made  a  sample,  which  I  had  photographed 
and  sent  to  them.  They  did  not  approve  of  it,  and 
thus  I  was  thrown  upon  my  own  responsibility.  In 
the  preparation  of  the  model  the  Doctor  used  all  the 
acknowledged  likenesses  of  Luther,  and  even  sent 
to  St.  Louis  for  a  mask  of  Rauch's  well-known 
Luther  bust  in  the  Walhalla,  near  Munich,  which 
he  specially  followed  in  making  his  own.  I  took 
this  mask  to  Philadelphia  and  showed  it  to  Conrad 
and  Smith,  without,  however,  telling  them  that  it 
was  Rauch's.  They  condemned  it,  but  when  I  told 
them  the  origin  of  it  they  were  much  confused,  and 
blamed  me  for  leading  them  into  such  a  mischievous 
scrape.  It  is  not  everybody  who  has  had  that 
degree  of  artistic  taste  or  culture  which  would 
qualify  them  to  judge  in  such  a  case. 

I  then  proceeded  alone,  paying  Volck  $200  for  the 
mould,  and  advertising  the  statuette.  I  employed 
an  Italian  image  maker  to  mould  the  statuettes, 
paying  him  $5  for  each,  including  packing.  I 
charged  $10  for  the  first  copies,  and  I  did  not  re- 
ceive orders  for  more  than  about  twenty,  and  of 
course  lost  considerably  on  the  enterprise.  Though 
20 


306  life  reminiscences  of 

many  of  our  ministers  and  people  glorify  Luther  in 
exalted  strains,  very  few  of  them  were  willing  to 
buy  what  was  considered  by  good  judges  an  admir- 
able statuette  as  an  ornament  for  their  parlors, 
studies  or  Sunday-school  rooms.  High  art  has 
made  little  progress  among  us,  and  hence  there  are 
few  patrons.  In  one  hundred  years  hence  it  may 
be  different. 

Wherever  the  statuette  has  been  seen  by  artists  it 
has  been  pronounced  an  admirable  piece  of  work, 
and  extremely  like  the  universally  accepted  likeness 
by  Rauch,  but  man3T  of  our  people  thought  it  did 
not  look  like  Luther — just  as  if  they  knew  anything 
about  it.  To  such  an  enlightened  critic,  who  was 
sure  it  did  not  resemble  Luther,  I  once  meekly  ob- 
served, "  It  was  so  long  since  I  had  seen  brother 
Martin  that  I  did  not  remember  how  he  looked." 
The  critic  wilted. 

ELECTION    OF    PROFESSORS    AND    PRESIDENTS. 

I  have  taken  part  in  the  election  of  most  of  our 
professors  and  other  officers  in  the  Seminary  and  in 
college,  which  in  most  cases  occasioned  no  difficulty, 
for  usually  the  candidates  had  been  determined 
upon,  and  nothing  was  necessary  but  to  vote  them 
in.  In  a  few  other  cases  there  was  a  difference  of 
opinion,  and  several  candidates  were  presented  by 
their  respective  friends.  I  never,  however,  observed 
anything  like  fierce  party  strife,  but  everything  was 
done  in  kindness  and  mutual  respect. 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  307 

I  shall  notice  only  several  cases.  Until  1830  Dr. 
Schmucker  had  been  the  only  professor  in  the  Sem- 
inary. He  taught  all  the  classes,  and  at  a  small 
salary.  He  might  have  continued  to  do  it,  for  the 
number  of  students  did  not  exceed  15,  and  for  some 
years  it  did  not  reach  that  number.  If  he  had  done 
that,  which  it  is  true  would  have  demanded  a  little 
more  labor,  the  Seminary  would  have  saved  a  good 
deal  of  money,  and  some  unpleasant  events  might 
have  been  avoided.  But  there  was  an  ambition  to 
spread  out.  Dr.  Hazelius  was  elected  second  pro- 
fessor, and  this  transaction  turned  out  to  be  costly 
and  injurious. 

There  were  very  few  thoroughly  educated  theo- 
logians among  us  at  that  remote  period,  and  what 
few  we  had  were  extravagantly  extolled.  None  of 
us  had  ever  seen  Dr.  Hazelius,  who  was  the  only 
candidate,  but  he  had  the  reputation  of  being  a  good 
scholar,  and  had  been  teacher  in  Hartwick  Seminary 
for  a  number  of.  years.  He  was  elected,  and  accepted 
without  delay.  He  was  as  good,  kind,  guileless  a  soul 
as  ever  lived,  and  in  his  simplicity  he  thought  that 
everybody  was  as  honest  as  himself.  He  was  of  an 
extremely  social  nature,  and  it  was  not  long  before 
he  felt  himself  uncomfortable  in  his  new  position, 
and  wished  himself  back  at  Hartwick,  or  anywhere 
else.  Besides  this  his  salary  was  paid,  for  the  most 
part,  out  of  the  invested  capital  of  the  Seminary, 
which  was  unwise  and  unbusiness-like.  This  in  a 
short  time  occasioned  embarrassment,  but  what  else 


308  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

could  be  done  ?  There  was  not  enough  revenue 
from  investments  to  support  both  professors,  and 
this  fact  annoyed  the  good  Doctor  painfully.  He 
did  not  remain  more  than  several  years,  and  was  then 
elected  to  the  professorship  in  the  Seminary  of  the 
South  Carolina  Synod.  A  leading  member  of  that 
Synod  wrote  to  me,  inquiring  about  the  qualifica- 
tions of  a  minister  who  was  spoken  of  for  that  posi- 
tion. Instead  of  giving  him  an  opinion,  I  recom- 
mended Dr.  Hazelius,  who  I  knew  was  anxious  to 
leave  Gettysburg.  My  South  Carolina  friend  was 
overjoyed  to  hear  it,  and  they  chose  the  Doctor 
immediately,  and  he  went  as  soon  as  he  could  get 
off.  He  was  in  many  respects  an  interesting  man, 
and  performed  all  his  duties  faithfully.  He  died  at 
Lexington,  S.  C,  in  1853,  aged  76.* 

I  remember  well  that  on  one  occasion  the  Semi- 
nary Board  held  an  adjourned  meeting  in  a  gentle- 
man's parlor  in  Gettysburg,  and  thirteen  ballotings 
were  held  before  a  candidate  received  a  majority, 
and  then  it  was  only  one.  It  was  midnight  "before 
we  parted,  and  the  only  thing  that  secured  a  major- 
ity was  the  complete  exhaustion  of  a  few  of  the  mem- 
bers. They  wanted  to  leave  town  in  the  morning, 
and  it  was  necessary  that  the  vacancy  should  be 
filled.  It  was  a  severe  struggle,  but  all  was  con- 
ducted in  the  best  good  humor.  One  man  at  length 
yielded,  and  the  matter  was  decided.  I  do  not  think 
that  the  gentleman  elected  has  ever  found  out  what 

*  See  Sprague's  Annals  and  my  "  Fifty  Years." 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  309 

a  protracted  effort  it  cost  his  friends  to  elect  him. 
All  the  rest  submitted  to  the  result  gracefully. 

We  once  had  great  trouble  in  persuading  an 
elected  officer  of  one  of  the  schools  to  accept  the 
position.  We  all  voted  for  him,  and  the  meeting 
was  held  in  his  own  house.  There  was  some  diffi- 
culty in  the  way,  and  it  was  toward  midnight  before 
it  was  finally  adjusted  to  the  satisfaction  of  all. 

When  Dr.  Baugher,  Sr.,  was  elected  President  of 
Pennsylvania  College  in  the  place  of  Dr.  Krauth, 
transferred  to  the  Seminary,  I  was  one  of  the  commit- 
tee appointed  to  inform  him  of  the  fact.  The  Board 
was  still  in  session,  and  it  was  important  to  hear  his 
decision  before  it  adjourned.  We  proceeded  to  his 
residence,  which  was  then  out  of  town,  on  the  road 
to  the  almshouse.  We  found  him  at  home,  and 
upon  being  ushered  into  his  study,  I  without  many 
words  announced  his  election.  Without  uttering  a 
previous  word  of  acknowledgment  he  abruptly  re- 
plied, "  I  will  not  accept  it!"  He  appeared  vexed 
at  hearing  it,  but  after  some  consideration  he  with- 
drew his  declination  and  accepted  the  office. 

I  could  recite  another  instance  of  difficulty  and 
vexation  and  midnight  election  struggle,  but  I  will 
forbear.  Some  facts  in  history  had  better  be  un- 
written. 

The  lamented  death  of  Dr.  Stork,  who  had  so 
ably  filled  the  professor's  chair  in  the  Seminary, 
rendered  an  election  necessary.  There  were  several 
candidates  for  the  place,  and  there  was  the  unusual 


310  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

number  of  45  members  of  the  Board  at  the  special 
meeting  called  for  this  purpose.  There  was  more 
excitement  than  usual,  and  the  friends  of  the  sev- 
eral candidates  were  very  sanguine.  Indeed,  there 
were  several  members  present  who  usually  absented 
themselves  from  the  regular  meetings.  One  of  the 
candidates  received  but  three  votes  of  the  45,  and 
Dr.  Valentine  all  the  rest.  There  was  some  sharp 
disappointment  and  chagrin  felt  out  of  doors,  not  so 
much  at  the  election  of  Dr.  Valentine  as  at  the 
complete  discomfiture  of  their  favorite. 

A  few  members  of  the  Board  had  concluded  to 
bring  forward  Dr.  Christlieb,  of  Bonn,  and  it  would 
have  been  done  if  one  of  his  advocates  had  not  been 
suddenly  called  home  during  the  meeting.  I  do 
not  think  that  Dr.  Christlieb  would  have  been 
chosen,  for  the  minds  of  the  Board  were  set  upon 
Dr.  Valentine ;  and  besides  it  was  not  known  how 
Dr.  Christlieb  was  disposed,  and  it  was  considered  a 
hazardous  experiment. 

During  the  summer  of  1884  Dr.  Hamma,  of  Bal- 
timore, went  to  Europe,  and  took  occasion  to  call 
and  see  Dr.  Christlieb.  I  gave  him  a  letter  of  in- 
troduction to  him,  and  a  month  afterwards  Dr. 
Hamma  wrote  me  that  he  had  seen  Dr.  Christlieb, 
and  casually  spoke  to  him  on  the  subject.  He  said 
that  whilst  he  would  like  to  labor  for  the  Church  in 
the  United  States,  yet  that  he  felt  himself  too  old 
for  such  a  move,  but  especially  that  he  thought  it 
his  duty  to  remain  in  Germany  to  fight  the  battle  of 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  3II 

Orthodoxy  against  the  Rationalists;  and  I  think  his 
conclusion  was  sensible. 

It  has  always  seemed  to  me  absurd  to  ask  a 
learned  German  professor  to  come  over  here  and 
teach  (as  he  would  be  compelled  to  do)  the  elements 
of  theology,  or,  it  might  be,  the  alphabet  of  Hebrew. 
He  would  spurn  it  with  disdain,  and  denounce  the 
day  he  ever  consented  to  become  the  preceptor  of 
young  men  in  preliminary  branches  which  they 
should  have  learned  long  before  at  the  University. 
I  know  something  about  one  celebrated  German 
divine  who  was  elected  to  a  position  in  this  country, 
and  of  whom  it  was  really  expected  that  he  would 
teach  the  A  B  C  of  the  German  language  to  mis- 
chievous American  boys  and  a  few  theological 
students.     He  did  not  come. 

It  might  well  enough  suit  a  young  man  who  had 
not  yet  acquired  a  reputation,  and  who  could  easily 
accommodate  himself  to  our  manners  and  church 
life;  but  to  ask  a  man  of  European  celebrity  and 
long-established  German  habits  to  come  over  and 
lecture  to  our  half-trained  theological  students  is 
literally  expecting  a  little  too  much. 

I  once  heard  a  German  professor  of  high  distinc- 
tion, in  one  of  our  Church  Seminaries,  openly  de- 
clare in  Synod  that  his  pupils  were  not  sufficiently 
advanced  to  be  profited  by  his  lectures,  and  for  that 
and  other  reasons  he  resigned. 

Dr.  Valentine's  transfer  to  the  Seminary  left  the 
College  Presidency  vacant,   and  various  gentlemen 


312  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

were  named  as  suitable  successors.  On  Wednesday 
morning,  June  25th,  1884,  the  Trustees  met,  when 
after  long  deliberation  the  Rev.  Charles  S.  Albert, 
of  St.  Mark's,  Baltimore,  was  chosen  by  19  votes  to 
one  blank.  A  committee  was  appointed  to  wait 
upon  him  next  day  in  Baltimore,  but  owing  to  the 
destruction  of  a  portion  of  the  railroad  by  a  flood, 
they  did  not  see  him  until  the  following  Monday. 
Mr.  Albert  declined  the  offer. 

An  extra  meeting  of  the  Board  was  called  for 
July  15,  when  Dr.  McKnight  was  elected,  and 
finally  accepted  the  place. 

COLLECTING    FUNDS    FOR    THE    SEMINARY. 

No  wonder  that  in  the  early  history  of  the  Semi- 
nary and  some  other  good  Church  institutions  many 
serious  blunders  were  made  in  the  methods  of  col- 
lecting funds  for  their  support.  That  business  was 
not  elevated  to  an  art  as  it  is  to-day,  and  hard  work 
was  done  in  securing  the  requisite  funds.  Collectors 
were  constantly  in  the  field,  and  small  donations 
were  in  order.  Gifts  of  thousands  were  not  known 
in  our  Church,  and  were  not  common  anywhere. 
Benjamin  Keller,  Prof.  Schmucker  and  Benjamin 
Kurtz  were  the  most  successful  solicitors,  although 
other  men,  such  as  Rev.  Dr.  J.  G.  Schmucker  and  a 
few  others,  did  efficient  work. 

Prof.  Schmucker 's  field  was  principally  among  the 
New  Englanders,  and  B.  Kurtz  spent  two  years  in 
Europe  in  this  service.     He  was  there  when  Ration- 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  313 

alism  was  still  popular.  His  cause  was  novel,  his 
maimers  were  engaging,  but  not  polished  after  the 
European  style,  his  preaching  so  simple  and  impres- 
sive that  many  were  disposed  to  contribute  small 
sums  for  the  sake  of  the  man,  if  not  for  the  cause. 
After  two  years'  hard  work  he  managed  to  bring  to 
the  Seminary  treasury  not  over  $12,000,  besides 
piles  of  books,  many  of  which  were  of  no  account. 

I  think  that  I  have  recorded  the  fact  somewhere 
else  that  our  Board  once  voted  a  donation  of  some 
of  these  books  to  the  Theological  Seminary  which  a 
short  time  previously  had  been  established  in  Co- 
lumbus, O. ,  with  Prof.  Schmidt  as  President.  I  met 
him  in  Frederick  not  long  after  he  had  received  the 
books,  and  he  complained  grievously  of  the  quality 
of  the  donation.  He  said  with  few  exceptions  they 
consisted  of  nothing  but  old  German  prayer-books 
and  sermons,  which  he  did  not  want,  and  of  which 
he  could  make  no  use.  I  can  easily  conceive  all 
this,  for  the  selection  was  left  to  a  gentleman  who 
was  not  too  favorably  inclined  to  the  Ohio  Seminary, 
and  who  was  only  too  glad  to  disencumber  our 
shelves  of  a  pile  of  useless  lumber,  and  who  thought 
besides  that  these  useless  old  books  were  good 
enough  for  what,  in  his  opinion,  was  a  very  small 
concern! 

In  connection  with  Mr.  Kurtz's  agency  it  may  be 
worth  while  to  state  that  his  services  were  rendered 
gratuitously,  but  he  still,  and  I  think  very  properly, 
too,  looked  for  something  more  substantial  than  a 


314  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

vote  of  thanks.  I  do  not  mean  that  he  desired  any 
pecuniary  compensation,  but  he  did  intimate  that 
some  of  the  very  nice  fancy  articles  which  were  sold 
at  a  fair  in  Baltimore  would  be  acceptable,  and 
which  he  intended  as  presents  to  some  of  his  female 
parishioners  at  Hagerstown,  for  he  was  then  a  wid- 
ower. All  the  articles  were  sold,  and  he  got  noth- 
ing ;  he  then  said  that  he  would  be  pleased  to  receive 
a  few  of  the  best  and  most  costly  books.  The  result 
of  the  whole  proceeding  was  that  he  was  presented 
with  a  duplicate  copy  of  a  Hebrew  Bible  !  This  was 
not  the  action  of  the  Board,  but  of  a  single  individ- 
ual. I  have  the  best  reason  to  know  that  this  fact 
mortified  him  to  the  very  quick,  and  he  spoke  of  it 
privately  many  years  after  as  one  of  the  most  humil- 
iating events  of  his  life.  He  had  too  much  self- 
respect  to  speak  of  it  publicly  or  to  complain,  but  it 
harassed  him  painfully  for  years,  and  he  never  en- 
tirely recovered  from  it. 

Persons  entirely  incompetent  to  the  work  were 
appointed  as  solicitors,  and  I  myself,  when  quite  a 
young  man,  was  inconsiderate  enough  to  go  out  upon 
such  an  expedition.  Why  did  not  some  judicious 
friend  dissuade  me  from  it  ? 

I  had  no  experience,  and  not  another  single  qual- 
ification. I  had  not  been  in  the  ministry  over  a  few 
months;  I  was  not  known,  and  in  all  respects  the 
most  unfit  man  for  such  a  position.  But  I  ventured 
upon  the  ill-considered  enterprise,  and  the  result 
may  be  foreseen.     I  hired  a  vehicle,  went  up  as  far 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  315 

as  Winchester,  and  did  not  receive,  even  in  promises 
to  pay,  as  much  as  my  expenses  amounted  to,  but  I 
paid  these  myself,  so  that  the  Seminary  at  least  did 
not  suffer.  I  have  not  gone  out  on  such  business 
since ! 

In  the  course  of  years  the  Seminary  has  received 
some  bequests,  though  none  very  large ;  but  by  dint 
of  perseverance  I  presume  that  over  $100,000  have 
been  collected  in  the  course  of  fifty  years.*  Many 
subscriptions  were  never  paid  (and  some  money  has 
been  lost).  The  Board  was  not  always  judicious  in 
the  choice  of  its  Treasurers;  good,  honest  men  they 
were,  but  they  were  not  practiced  financiers,  and  did 
not  know  how  to  invest  funds  wisely.  The  present 
Treasurer  (1886)  is  the  only  one  I  remember  who 
had  the  necessary  business  qualifications  for  that 
office. 

The  efficient  services  in  securing  funds  for  the 
Seminary  rendered  by  Rev.  Drs.  Brown  and  F.  W. 
Conrad  deserve  the  most  honorable  mention.  These 
gentlemen  brought  together  considerable  sums,  but 
their  labors  belong  to  a  later  period  of  the  Semi- 
nary's history,  and  my  design  in  this  chapter  is  to 
speak  of  the  early  times  more  particularly.! 

*  It  was  announced  in  1885  that  several  large  bequests  were 
made,  which  have  since  been  paid  (1896),  amounting  to  almost 
$100, oco. 

f  See  my  History  of  the  Seminary ;  Evangelical  Review. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

GENERAL  MISCELLANY  :  JENNY  LIND— EXCURSIONS— PRIVATE 
LIBRARIES — THE  REBELLION— GIVING  OFFENCE  UNINTEN- 
TIONALLY— KOSTEIN'S  LIFE  OF  LUTHER— BAD  TREATMENT — 
HOUSE  ROBBED — CURIOUS  WEDDING  EVENT — KOSSUTH  IN  BAL- 
TIMORE—LIST  OF  LUTHERAN  PUBLICATIONS— VISITS  FROM 
FOREIGNERS. 

When  Jenny  Lind  was  in  Baltimore  I  became  ac- 
quainted with  her,  and  exchanged  several  letters 
with  her  afterwards,  one  of  which  I  gave  to  Brantz 
Mayer,  who  was  an  autograph  collector.  She  had 
made  up  her  mind  to  come  to  our  church  on  Sun- 
day in  company  with  Consul  Brauns,  a  faithful 
member;  but  when  she  saw  the  immense  crowd 
assembled  in  the  streets  around  Barnum's  she  tim- 
idly shrank,  fearing  that  the  unthinking  multitude 
would  follow  her  carriage,  which  would  have  been 
the  case,  to  her  great  discomfort  and  our  incon- 
venience. If  she  had  come  to  our  church  there 
wrould  have  been  such  a  rush  as  was  never  wit- 
nessed, so  insane  was  the  curiosity  of  the  ignobile 
vulgus  to  see  the  great  singer  whom  they  could  not 
afford  to  pay  to  hear. 

I  was  offered  tickets  to  her  concerts,  but  never 
went.     First,  because  most  of  my  people,  not  know- 

(316) 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  317 

ing  that  my  tickets  were  free,  would  have  thought 
hard  of  me  for  paying  $7  (the  price) ;  and  secondly, 
because  she  sung  in  a  theatre,  where  I  would  have 
been  severely  blamed  for  going.  Two  ministers, 
one  of  our  own  Church  and  one  a  Protestant  Meth- 
odist, both  editors,  were  reprehended  in  one  of  the 
dailies  for  going  to  a  theatre  to  hear  Lind  sing. 
Some  of  my  good  people  said  to  me  they  were  glad 
I  did  not  go,  for  I  would  have  been  included  in  the 
censure  by  name;  and  so  was  I. 

The  opinions  of  thousands  of  people  have  changed 
on  this  subject.  Whilst  it  would  not  be  safe  for  a 
minister  to  go  to  a  theatre  to  witness  a  regular  dra- 
matic performance,  yet  the  public  will  now  permit 
him  to  go  to  a  theatre  to  hear  a  lecture  or  a  con- 
cert, or  to  be  present  at  a  college  commencement  or 
a  meeting  in  behalf  of  any  good  object. 

EXCURSIONS. 

The  poet  Rogers,  of  London,  was  in  the  habit  for 
many  years  of  giving  breakfasts  to  his  foreign  visi- 
tors, and  to  everybody  else  who  was  anybody.  The 
guests  were  sure  to  meet  people  of  distinction  in 
every  profession,  and  hence  the  honor  of  an  invita- 
tion was  anxiously  coveted.  Rogers  was  once  much 
amused  at  receiving  a  reply  from  an  American  lady 
whom  he  invited  to  breakfast,  which  contained  no 
other  words  than  "  Won't  I  ?"  He  used  to  tell  the 
story  with  great  glee,  and  he  thought  it  exceed- 
ingly smart  and  characteristically  American. 


318  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

This  was  in  effect  my  reply  to  a  polite  note  from 
the  high  authorities  of  the  Northern  Central  Rail- 
road to  accompany  an  excursion  party  as  far  as  Wat- 
kins  Glen,  in  New  York.  Most  readily  did  I  say 
"  Won't  I?"  and  we  went. 

The  party  consisted  of  two  clergymen,  some 
artists,  newspaper  reporters  of  course,  and  a  few 
miscellaneous  amateurs.  They  were  all  gentlemen 
of  culture,  and  some  of  them  of  reputation,  as  for 
example,  General  Strother,  of  Virginia,  the  genial 
11  Porte  Crayon  "  of  Harper's  Magazine.  The  rest 
of  us  were  no  persons  in  particular  in  our  own  esti- 
mation, although  a  few  of  our  artists  are  rising  fast 
in  public  favor,  and  will  be  further  heard  of  after  a 
while.  Every  one  of  them  has  studied  abroad,  and 
the  only  sculptor  among  us  is  the  only  one  who  in- 
tends to  return  to  Europe,  the  main  reason  of  which 
is  that  a  German  lady  of  beauty  and  high  social 
distinction  captured  his  young  heart,  and  he  mar- 
ried her.  She  is  the  accomplished  daughter  of  the 
most  exalted  Lutheran  hierarch  in  the  kingdom  of 
Bavaria,  whom  we  had  the  pleasure  of  meeting  in 
Leipzig  some  years  ago,  whose  official  title  now  is 
OberconsistorialratJi  und  ReicJisratJi,  Dr.  H. 

Our  company  was  composed  for  the  most  part  of 
young  men  who,  when  out  of  their  studies  and  their 
editorial  coops,  are  expected  to  be  gay,  and  of  right 
should  be.  Nature  requires  it,  the  gospel  sanctions 
it.  Most  of  them  behaved  like  boys  let  out  of  school, 
and  yet  there  was  nothing  undignified  or  unbecom- 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  319 

ing  the  gentleman.  There  was  sparkling  wit,  sharp 
repartee,  unctuous  story-telling,  classic  quotation, 
extempore  poetry,  refined  song,  racy  conversation, 
and  everything  exhilarating  you  could  expect  from 
a  company  of  educated  excursionists.  Nothing 
offensive  or  discordant  with  perfect  propriety  was 
said  or  done.  Every  man  seemed  determined  to 
contribute  his  best  to  render  the  occasion  agreeable, 
and  the  most  awkward  among  us  put  in  his  share  to 
the  general  enjoyment,  if  in  no  other  way  than  by 
creating  a  laugh  at  his  bad  puns  or  his  unmusical 
songs.  We  were  furnished  with  a  car  for  our  ex- 
clusive use,  supplied  with  everything  that  could  re- 
fresh the  outer  and  the  inner  man,  and  as  we  had 
with  us  a  high  official  of  the  railroad  company,  wre 
switched  off  where  we  pleased,  and  were  taken  up 
by  the  next  or  any  other  train  that  passed.  It  was 
impossible  for  us  to  escape  observation  wherever  we 
stopped,  for  the  artists  would  disembark  with  their 
camp-stools  and  sketching  apparatus  to  copy  scen- 
ery, and  would  soon  have  around  them  a  group  of 
staring  country  boys  wondering  what  these  city  men 
were  doing*,  and  then  some  of  us,  with  rod  and 
tackle,  would  try  for  a  trout  and  catch  only  a  chub, 
or  one  of  us,  with  insect  net,  would  break  his  shins 
over  stones  and  rush  through  briars  after  a  butter- 
fly, to  the  wonderment  of  the  group  of  rustics. 

It  was  necessary  also  in  maintaining  perfect  rail- 
road discipline  to  telegraph  ahead  our  coming,  so  that 
at  every  station  of  importance  we  were  met  by  the 


320  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

dignitaries  of  the  place,  by  the  editor,  and  road  offi- 
cer and  subordinates,  who  were  anxious  to  see  these 
great  men  from  Baltimore,  and  all  our  names  were 
paraded  in  the  next  morning's  paper  with  consid- 
erable flourish  and  eclat,  various  invitations  to  stay 
and  look  round  were  extended,  which  we  could  not 
accept,  and  after  a  brief  levee  on  the  platform,  but 
no  long  speeches,  we  were  summoned  to  our  car  and 
off  we  went  with  railroad  speed. 

To  some  of  our  company  the  scenery  along  the 
Susquehanna  was  quite  new,  and  the  artists  saw 
many  a  place  which  they  would  have  liked  to  transfer 
to  their  sketch  books.  The  towns  wore  the  same  un- 
washed, frowsy  appearance,-  and  presented  so  little 
attraction  that  their  names  were  not  even  asked. 
The  editors  and  reporters  would  occasionally  inquire, 
but  I  do  not  think  these  villages  will  find  a  place  in 
their  published  accounts  of  the  excursion. 

Of  course  conversation  sometimes  lagged,  and 
somehow  or  other  men  will  sleep,  and  in  their  sleep 
in  a  railroad  car  they  assume  most  unclassical  posi- 
tions and  utter  most  unmusical  sounds.  A  few 
piped  gently,  others  groaned,  some  snorted  outright, 
and  one  burly  fat  man  gave  out  all  the  dissonant 
noises  of  a  starting  locomotive.  Whilst  some  were 
indulging  in  these  innocent  though  annoying  amuse- 
ments some  of  the  artists  sketched  their  likenesses, 
a  little  caricatured  of  course,  which  afforded  infinite 
fun  to  all  around.  What  a  wonderful  talent  in 
sketching  these  men  have !     In  a  few  minutes  they 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER. 


321 


transfer  to  the  paper  a  recognizable  likeness  of  a 
man,  with  all  the  surroundings,  which,  though 
roughly  drawn,  is  fit  for  a  portfolio  or  a  specimen 
of  art.  They  talk  most  excellently  with  their  pen- 
cils, and  convey  truer  and  sounder  ideas,  and  better 
expressed,  than  many  of  them  do  with  their  tongues. 
The  more  careful  sketches  some  of  them  took  of 
scenes  to  be  published  in  Harper's  are  exquisite 
gems,  and  it  is  a  pity  that  they  must  be  reduced  in 
size  and  engraved  on  wood  for  that  magazine. 

On  another  excursion  to  which  I  was  invited  by 
the  Baltimore  &  Ohio  Railroad,  the  company  was 
composed  of  such  men  as  George  Bancroft,  Prof. 
Henry,  Brantz  Mayer,  and  some  others.  We  pro- 
ceeded as  far  as  Wheeling,  and  thence  by  boat  to 
Pittsburg.  Bancroft's  design  was  to  trace  the  route 
of  Braddock's  army  from  Fort  Frederick,  in  Mary- 
land, to  Pittsburg.  Our  first  stopping  place  was  at 
Harper's  for  several  hours,  then  at  Fort  Frederick, 
and  whilst  we  were  surveying  the  remains  Bancroft 
said  it  was  just  one  hundred  years  ago,  on  that  very 
day,  that  Braddock  occupied  that  place. 

We  stopped  all  night  at  Martinsburg,  where  we 
were  entertained  by  Hon.  Mr.  Faulkner.  We  tar- 
ried at  many  places  between  that  and  Cumberland, 
where  we  were  elegantly  entertained  by  Mayor 
Tucker  and  others.  We  dined  one  day  with  Mr. 
Weld  at  the  Mt.  Savage  Iron  Works.  At  Frostburg 
we  made  a  long  pedestrian  tour,  and  according  to 
Bancroft  we  found  the  road  cut  by  Braddock  for  the 


322  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

march  of  his  army.  When  we  arrived  at  Pittsburg 
as  the  party  selected  Sunday  for  the  inspection 
of  Braddock's  field,  I  did  not  accompany  them, 
but  stayed  in  the  city  and  preached. 

This  was  a  most  delightful  and  instructive  tour, 
which  continued  eight  days.  We  had  sleeping  and 
cooking  apartments  on  the  cars,  and  stopped  wher- 
ever we  pleased.  I  was  often  alone  on  our  wander- 
ings with  Mr.  Bancroft,  and  often  tried  to  draw  out 
his  religious  and  theological  views,  but  could  not 
succeed.  It  was  a  subject  he  avoided,  but  on  his- 
torical and  literary  matters  he  was  open,  and  let  me 
say  inexhaustible.  For  the  remembrance  of  facts, 
places,  dates,  men,  he  was  remarkable.  It  was  a 
week  of  unmixed  enjoyment.  Prof.  Henry,  with 
his  rich  stores  of  learning,  and  Brantz  Mayer,  with 
his  sprightliness  and  literary  anecdotes,  contributed 
much  to  the  pleasure  of  the  company. 

There  was  another  excursion  on  the  Baltimore  and 
Ohio  given  to  a  few  of  us  of  the  Academy  of  Science. 
This  was  only  free  as  far  as  the  transportation  was 
concerned,  but  we  had  a  distinct  train,  under  the 
direction  of  an  officer  of  the  company.  Our  caterer 
laid  in  a  good  stock  of  provisions,  and  we  enjoyed 
ourselves  to  perfection.  Our  evenings  were  spent 
in  the  cars,  when  I  would  give  a  burlesque  lecture 
on  every  insect  that  would  fly  to  our  lamps. 

At  some  village  on  the  Alleghanies  we  were  vis- 
ited by  a  well-educated  German  doctor,  who  was  so 
enamored  with  the  ale  which  some  of  the  party  had 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  323 

with,  them  that  he  traveled  with  us  nearly  a  whole 
day.  I  presume  he  had  not  enjoyed  such  fare  as  we 
fed  him  on  for  many  a  day.  He  and  I  had  a  dispute 
on  Christianity,  and  by  a  happy  question  I  so  turned 
the  laugh  of  the  whole  company  upon  him  that  he 
left  us  at  the  next  station,  having  fared  sumptuously 
at  our  table. 

PRIVATE    LIBRARIES. 

Very  few  of  our  ministers  of  40  or  50  years  ago,  or 
even  much  later,  could  afford  to  buy  good  libraries. 
The  fact  is  that  very  few  had  time  to  study,  and 
again  more  of  them  had  not  been  trained  to  habits 
of  study.  The  collections  of  first-class  theological 
books  were  few  until  the  establishment  of  the  sem- 
inaries, and  in  the  beginning  there  was  nothing  re- 
markable even  about  them,  but  they  have  improved 
wonderfully  since. 

Some  of  our  professors  and  pastors  have  fair  col- 
lections—I  do  not  mean  in  quantity,  but  in  quality — 
and  several  of  them  have  large  and  rich  libraries. 
That  of  Rev.  Dr.  Krauth,  of  Philadelphia,  is  the 
largest  private  library  probably  of  any  minister  in 
the  country,  and  it  is  exceedingly  rich  in  the  highest 
departments  of  literature.  It  has  often  been  al- 
luded to  by  scholars,  and  Dr.  Thomas,  the  author 
of  the  Pronouncing  Biographical  and  Mythological 
Dictionary,  says  that  he  found  assistance  from  Dr. 
Krauth 's  library  which  he  could  at  that  time  find 
nowhere  else  in  the  United  States.     The  rarest  and 


324  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

most  useful  books  on  Lutheran  theology  and  Sym- 
bolik  abound  in  the  collection,  which  you  can  see 
nowhere  else  in  the  country. 

Rev.  Dr.  B.  M.  Schmucker  has  a  rich  collection 
of  works  on  Luther's  Ltturgik,  some  of  which  are 
unique. 

My  own  special  collection  is  confined  to  books  on 
Luther,  of  which  I  now  have  some  very  rare  and 
curious  copies,  and  to  books  written  by  Lutheran 
ministers  in  America. 

Some  other  men  have  made  a  specialty  of  collect- 
ing Lutheran  pamphlets,  proceedings  of  Synod  and 
the  like.  The  largest  of  this  character  of  publica- 
tions was  made  by  Rev.  Dr.  Sheeleigh,  which  was 
purchased  by  the  Lutheran  Historical  Society. 

I  have  never  aimed  at  collecting  a  large  library. 
First,  I  could  not  afford  it ;  secondly,  I  had  no  room 
for  it ;  thirdly,  I  have  observed  that  even  owners  of 
large  collections  are  not  ahvays  the  most  industrious 
readers,  and  if  they  are  students  at  all  they  find  that 
their  books  of  reference  are  sufficient,  and  this  is  the 
experience  of  most  students;  and  fourthly,  I  have 
always  had  access  to  fair  collections,  and  since  the 
Peabody  and  the  Johns  Hopkins  libraries  have  been 
instituted,  I  have  the  use  of  every  book  I  wish  to 
consult. 

I  have  expended  hundreds  of  dollars  on  books, 
and  imported  large  numbers  from  Germany,  but  I 
have  sold  off  several  collections,  and  never  had  over 
2,000  volumes  at  any  one  time.     That  morbid  dis- 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  325 

position  to  buy  books  so  common  to  young  students 
has  happily  left  me  long  ago.  My  reference  volumes 
answer  all  my  present  purposes,  and  the  books  which 
I  read  I  get  from  the  libraries,  especially  the  Mer- 
cantile, Peabody  and  Johns  Hopkins  University 
libraries. 

Not  a  few  of  my  later  possessions  are  the  gifts  of 
the  authors,  but  years  ago  I  also  received  as  gifts 
valuable  books  from  de  Menneville  and  Bossange,  of 
Paris;  from  Burmeister,  Sturm,  Ericson,  Troschel, 
Herrick,  Schaeffer,  Dunker,  and  other  naturalists, 
of  Germany;  Dr.  Rogers,  Doubleday,  and  others, 
of  England,  saying  nothing  of  many  of  our  own 
writers  on  this  side.  The  number  of  pamphlets  sent 
me  by  the  authors  of  them  is  very  considerable. 

THE    REBELLION. 

During  the  rebellion  I  was  not  a  pastor,  but 
librarian  in  the  Peabody  Institute.  Though  the 
congregation  in  Lexington  street  which  I  had  served 
so  many  years  was  for  the  most  part  on  the  side  of 
the  Union,  yet  that  would  not  have  determined  the 
decided  stand  I  took  had  I  been  their  pastor.  Be- 
fore I  knew  which  side  my  former  friends  would 
assume  I  had  openly  proclaimed  myself  for  the  gov- 
ernment, and  on  that  ground  I  stood  to  the  end. 
Some  of  our  city  clergy  of  other  churches  held  the 
same  position,  others  espoused  the  Southern  cause, 
and  a  few  affected  to  be  indifferent,  and  a  few  vainly 
tried  to  accommodate  themselves  to  both  parties, 
and  thus  lost  the  confidence  of  both. 


326  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

It  cost  something  to  be  an  uncompromising  Union 
man  in  those  early  days.  For  one  or  two  days  we 
were  threatened  with  an  order  of  expulsion  from  the 
city,  and  we  were  forbidden  for  a  short  time  to  dis- 
play the  Union  flag,  but  a  change  of  sentiment  soon 
occurred. 

Some  men  and  women  whose  pastor  I  had  been 
for  many  years,  whose  children  I  had  baptized,  and 
some  of  whom  I  had  buried,  whose  friend  and  com- 
forter I  had  been  in  trouble,  and  their  welcome 
guest  always,  broke  up  all  intercourse  with  me  and 
my  family,  and  would  not  even  speak  to  me  when 
we  met.  Some  of  them  maintained  this  hostile 
stand  for  over  ten  years,  until  their  death.  It  led 
some  of  them  to  leave  our  Church  and  connect 
themselves  with  congregations  whose  pastors  and 
people  were  more  demonstratively  on  the  Southern 
side.  A  general  notion  also  prevailed  that  the 
"  aristocracy  "  and  fashionable  people  belonged  to 
that  party,  and  this  led  some  of  those  who  sighed  to 
be  respectable,  and  whose  personal  merits  would  not 
have  secured  recognition  by  that  class,  to  take  ad- 
vantage of  this  crisis  to  secure  a  standing  among 
them.  They  succeeded  to  some  extent,  as  long  as 
their  money  and  help  were  wanted,  but  they  were 
dropped  out  of  the  ranks  when  the  excitement  was 
over. 

It  was  for  a  considerable  time  regarded  as  a  very 
bold,  and  by  some  a  presumptuous  act,  to  pray  for 
the  President  of  the  United  States.     I  remember  on 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  327 

several  occasions  when  I  prayed  in  churches,  not 
our  own,  that  some  people  would  abruptly  leave  the 
church,  making  as  much  disturbance  as  possible, 
and  I  am  sure  that  if  you  had  asked  them  what  was 
the  cause  of  the  rebellion,  not  one-half  of  them  would 
have  been  able  to  give  an  intelligent  answer. 

One  of  our  Pennsylvania  ministers,  who  was  a  very 
popular  man,  preached  in  one  of  our  Lutheran 
churches,  and  gave  great  offence  by  praying  that  the 
Lord  would  grant  success  to  our  army  and  navy. 
He  has  never  since  been  invited  to  that  pulpit. 
Even  the  Union  men  thought  he  was  too  denunci- 
atory for  the  pulpit,  and  feared  that  some  of  the 
party  would  be  so  grievously  offended  as  to  leave 
the  Church. 

To  show  the  gradual  improvement  in  public  opin- 
ion in  one  of  our  churches  at  least,  the  pastor,  who 
was  not  loyal  at  heart,  came  to  me  in  great  glee, 
and  said  ' '  that  there  was  no  danger  in  praying  for 
the  President  now!"  He  did  not  rejoice  that  he 
could  now  discharge  a  plain  Christian  duty  unmo- 
lested, but  that  by  so  doing  he  would  not  openly 
offend  his  secession  friends,  and  that  he  would 
thereby  gratify  his  Union  members ! 

I  received  a  commission  from  the  National  Sani- 
tary Board,  and  for  some  time  discharged  the  duties 
required.  I  one  day  heard  that  a  Pennsylvania  reg- 
iment commanded  by  Col.  Hartranft,  since  Gover- 
nor, which  was  encamped  near  the  city,  had  some 
sick  men  who  needed  attention.     I   went  immedi- 


328  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

ately,  announced  my  benevolent  errand  to  the  Col- 
onel through  a  subordinate,  and  was  deeply  mortified 
when  word  was  sent  me  purporting  to  come  from 
him  that  my  services  were  not  required,  and  he  did 
not  want  to  be  annoyed  by  any  such  offers.  Per- 
haps the  man  I  sent  in  did  not  convey  my  message 
properly,  or  the  Colonel  was  in  a  bad  humor,  or  it 
may  be  that  his  reply  was  not  properly  reported  to 
me.  At  any  rate,  I  went  away  mortified  that  the 
benevolent  design  of  the  Commission  should  have 
been  so  inhumanly  repelled. 

Thousands  of  troops  passed  our  village  of  Luther- 
ville  in  the  railroad  cars  during  the  war,  and  as  we 
could  hear  the  rumbling  of  the  train  and  the  yelling 
of  the  soldiers  a  mile  distant,  a  number  of  us  loyal 
citizens  would  rush  down  to  the  road  and  welcome 
them  as  they  passed  by  waving  the  Union  flag  and 
giving  them  enthusiastic  hurrahs.  Their  response 
came  with  a  will. 

Some  of  our  neighbors  did  not  share  in  our  sym- 
pathies, and  this  unhappy  disposition  was  near  lead- 
ing to  what  would  have  been  a  deplorable  result. 
One  evening  as  a  train  crowded  with  soldiers  was 
rushing  by,  a  rebel  flag  was  displayed  at  a  window 
not  far  below  us.  This  imprudent  act  exasperated 
some  of  the  men  on  the  train,  and  one  of  them  fired 
at  a  number  of  ladies  standing  in  the  window  flaunt- 
ing the  hateful  banner.  Fortunately  the  ball  struck 
the  house  and  no  one  was  hurt.  It  was  an  unjusti- 
fiable and  cowardly  act  on  both  sides. 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  329 

During  the  war  our  railroad  from  Harrisburg  to 
Baltimore  was  guarded  by  troops,  a  company  of 
whom  were  encamped  near  our  village.  This  com- 
pany was  commanded  by  Captain  Beaver,  now  Gov- 
ernor of  Pennsylvania  (1889). 

We  in  the  village  *  never  felt  ourselves  in  any 
particular  danger  from  the  rebels  but  once,  and 
then  our  apprehensions  were  groundless. 

One  Sunday  morning  in  going  to  church,  in  com- 
pany with  Dr.  B.  Sadtler  and  our  families,  we  saw 
two  dense  columns  of  smoke  apparently  three  or  four 
miles  distant  up  the  railroad.  We  had  heard  of  a 
small  detachment  of  rebels  being  in  the  neighbor- 
hood, and  when  we  saw  the  smoke  the  Doctor  at 
once  suspected  that  they  had  set  fire  to  some  barns 
or  houses,  and  that  in  all  probability  they  would  pay 
us  a  visit  before  night.  We  went  to  church,  how- 
ever, and  the  Doctor  performed  the  services,  and 
preached  with  his  usual  dignity  and  calmness  with- 
out betraying  any  emotion.  When  the  service 
ended,  and  we  came  out,  a  young  man  had  just 
arrived  at  the  place  on  a  horse  all  foaming  with 
sweat,  announcing  the  approach  of  the  rebels.  We 
hurried  home,  and  most  of  us  concealed  our  watches 
and  other  valuables.  I  hid  a  lot  of  such  material 
under  a  wood-pile.  We  hid  our  horses  out  of  sight, 
and  calmly  (?)  awaited  the  enemy.  I  knew  well 
enough  that  if  I  could  have  an  interview  with  the 
commanding  officer  I   could   probably  prevent  his 

*  Lutherville,  Md. 


330  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

men  from  plundering  us,  for  I  believed  that  was  all 
they  wanted.  He  and  his  father  had  taken  tea  with 
me  not  many  months  before,  and  I  could  with  suc- 
cess have  appealed  to  his  gentlemanly  instincts. 
One  of  his  subordinates  had  in  the  meantime  robbed 
our  post  office,  compelling  the  postmaster  to  deliver 
up  the  small  amount  belonging  to  the  government 
in  his  hands,  but  "private  property  was  respected." 

Whilst  we,  with  our  families,  were  awaiting  the 
approach  of  ' '  the  enemy, ' '  and  feeling  rather  un- 
comfortable also,  to  our  great  gratification,  instead 
of  continuing  down  the  turnpike  leading  to  our  vil- 
lage, they  turned  off  into  a  lane  about  a  half  a  mile 
above  us,  and  that  assured  us  that  instead  of  paying 
us  a  visit  the  commander  was  leading  his  men 
towards  his  father's  residence,  five  or  six  miles  dis- 
tant from  us,  which  turned  out  to  be  the  fact.  Our 
apprehensions  were  relieved,  and  we  went  to  bed 
that  night  in  peace. 

The  commander  of  this  marauding  troup,  Harry 
Gilmor,  professed  conversion  to  Christianity  (1880- 
1882),  and  boarding  one  summer  (1880)  in  our  village, 
was  a  regular  attendant  at  our  church  services. 
He  died  in  1882. 

At  a  meeting  called  for  loyal  ministers,  held  in 
the  lecture-room  of  St.  John's  church,  Liberty  street, 
about  this  time,  I  offered  the  following  resolutions, 
but  I  was  prevailed  upon  to  withdraw  them,  as  being 
too  strong  for  some  weak-kneed  gentlemen  present : 

"Whereas,  In  the  call  for  this  meeting  it  was  distinctly 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  33 1 

stated  that  it  was  to  be  composed  of  loyal  ministers  only,  and 
as  that  phrase  is  variously  interpreted,  and  an  unwarrantable 
latitude  of  meaning  given  to  it  by  some,  we  deem  it  proper  on 
this  occasion  to  state  precisely  our  understanding  of  it. 

"1.  We  hold  that  he  is  not  a  loyal  minister  who  gives  no 
other  evidence  of  his  loyalty  than  by  a  cautious  silence  of  ex- 
pression against  the  government,  without  ever  saying  or  doing 
anythingybr  the  government.  We  regard  that  negative  loyalty 
as  unworthy  the  honored  name,  and  the  men  who  practice  it  as 
not  entitled  to  seats  in  this  meeting. 

"2.  We  do  not  regard  him  as  a  loyal  minister  who  in  the 
presence  of  loyal  people  seems  to  incline  to  their  side,  and  in 
presence  of  rebels  and  traitors  seems  to  favor  them. 

"3.  We  do  not  consider  him  a  loyal  minister  who  seldom  or 
never  in  his  pulpit  offers  prayers  distinctly  for  the  President  of 
the  United  States,  but  satisfies  his  conscience  and  that  of  his 
disloyal  people  by  praying  only  for  'those  in  authority,'  with- 
out even  the  qualifying  word  '  legal '  or  any  other  word  dis- 
criminating the  present  government. 

"4.  We  do  not  hold  him  to  be  a  loyal  minister  who  only  at 
this  late  day  is  loud  in  his  profession  of  loyalty  and  in  praise 
of  the  late  murdered  President,  when  the  popular  feeling  is  in 
that  direction,  and  an  outraged  community  demands  a  profes- 
sion of  national  faith  from  the  public  teachers  of  religion,  es- 
pecially when  some  such  teachers  have  written,  uttered,  de- 
fended and  voted  for  disloyal  resolutions. 

"5.  We  doubt  the  loyalty  of  those  ministers  who  give  no 
other  evidence  of  it,  than  taking  a  compulsory  oath  of  allegi- 
ance. 

"  Having  thus  stated  the  negative  aspect  of  the  case,  the  pos- 
itive is  apparent  and  the  public  will  know  our  definition  of  a 
loyal  minister." 

This  was  too  strong-  meat  for  the  majority,  and 
they  begged  me  to  withdraw  them  to  avoid  confusion 
and  the  exposure  of  some  of  the  weak  brethren. 


S32  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

Nothing  came  out  of  the  meeting.  Most  of  those 
present  were  opposed  to  the  government;  others 
better  disposed  were  afraid  of  offending  their  rebel 
parishioners.     The  few  faithful  could  do  nothing. 

GIVING    OFFENCE    UNINTENTIONALLY. 

I  have  carefully  avoided  hurting  the  feelings  of 
my  brethren  when  at  peace  with  them,  but  in  heated 
controversy  it  is  unavoidable.  Some  men  regard  a 
hard  argument  as  a  personal  assault,  and  a  smart 
repartee  as  a  grievous  offence.  But  we  sometimes 
say  things  either  in  animated  conversation  or  in 
public  speaking  which  are  taken  as  personal  thrusts 
or  innuendoes  when  they  are  not  thus  intended,  and 
this  direct  application  of  them  is  unwarranted  and 
unjust.  Some  men  are  so  extremely  sensitive  that 
they  seem  to  be  always  watching  for  something  to 
find  fault  with,  and  especially  in  relation  to  their 
precious  selves. 

I  once  delivered  an  address  upon  an  important 
public  occasion  in  which  I  paid  well-deserved  com- 
pliments to  various  gentlemen  who  were  associated 
with  the  occasion  of  the  meeting.  To  my  amaze- 
ment and  sore  chagrin,  just  one  year  after,  one  of 
the  men  whose  services  I  had  highly  lauded,  and  for 
whom  I  had  always  felt  and  expressed  great  admi- 
ration, called  me  severely  to  account  for  what  he 
termed  ' '  disparaging  remarks  ' '  in  my  oration.  I 
vehemently  repudiated  the  unfounded  imputation, 
and  showed  him  that  he  entirely  misapprehended 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER. 


333 


my  language  and  design.  I  expressed  my  deep 
regret  that  he,  with  whom  for  years  I  had  lived 
upon  most  intimate  terms,  should  suspect  me  of 
taking  advantage  of  my  position  to  say  anything 
disrespectful  of  a  man  whose  talents,*  acquirements 
and  character  I  had  even  boasted  of  for  years.  I 
felt  deeply  wounded,  and  spoke  with  emotion.  After 
I  had  said  everything  in  exculpation  of  myself,  I 
took  the  opportunity  thus  furnished  of  turning  the 
affair  against  him,,  and  showing  him  that  I  was  the 
more  aggrieved  party  of  the  two.  I  charged  him 
with  treating  me  unkindly  and  discourteously  in 
allowing  this  fancied  grievance  to  fester  a  whole 
year  without  giving  me  an  opportunity  to  heal  it — 
that  he  did  me  a  greater  injustice  in  cherishing  this 
unkind  feeling  intentionally  than  I  did  him  in  in- 
flicting a  wound  upon  him  without  design.  I  cited 
the  law  governing  cultivated  gentlemen  in  analo- 
gous cases,  that  an  insult,  real  or  presumed,  should 
be  adjusted  or  inquired  into  without  delay,  so  that 
the  parties  may  be  reconciled  by  an  explanation  or 
apology,  and  that  in  the  failure  of  an  amicable 
adjustment  they  may  cease  future  intercourse  or 
resort  to  harsher  methods  of  settlement,  as  ungodly 
men  sometimes  do.  I  demonstrated  to  him  that  in 
waiting  a  whole  year  before  calling  my  attention  to 
this  affair,  which  he  had  frequent  opportunity  to  do 
either  by  letter  or  intercourse,  he  was  a  more  culpa- 
ble offender  than  I  was! 

This  view  of  the  case  took  him  by  surprise.     He 


334  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

expressed  himself  as  satisfied  with  my  disavowal, 
but  I  was  not  invited  to  his  house  for  several  years 
after,  though  his  treatment  of  me  more  recently  is 
more  courteous,  and  I  hope  he  has  been  convinced 
of  his  error.    ■ 

KOSTLIN'S    LIFE    OF    LUTHER. 

When  the  two  large  8vo.  volumes  of  this  work  ap- 
peared in  1875,  Dr.  Krotel  and  I  had  some  corres- 
pondence on  the  subject  of  translating  it,  but  we 
wisely  concluded  that  the  work  was  too  large,  would 
take  up  too  much  time,  would  be  too  costly,  and  was 
not  of  that  popular  character  which  would  suit  our 
people,  on  account  of  the  large  extracts  from 
Luther's  writings,  of  which  most  of  the  book  is 
composed.     We  dropped  the  matter  entirely. 

When  in  1882  the  abbreviated  edition  in  one  vol- 
ume appeared,  I  immediately  began  the  translation 
of  it,  in  order  to  have  it  ready  for  the  commemora- 
tion year  of  Luther's  birth  in  1883.  It  was  the 
hardest  German  I  had  ever  undertaken,  and  the 
work  was  slow.  I  then  concluded  to  call  in  the 
help  of  some  friends,  and  divided  the  work  between 
four  or  five,  and  herein  committed  a  great  mistake. 
Only  two  of  them  were  really  competent,  and  one  of 
them  worked  in  such  a  hurry  that  much  of  his  per- 
formance had  to  be  gone  over  again,  as  was  really 
the  case  of  that  of  all  of  them,  excepting  one. 

These  corrections  and  improvements  cost  me  a 
deal  of  labor  of  the  most  perplexing  kind,  and  no 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  335 

wonder  that  some  errors  were  overlooked  and  some 
inelegancies  passed  by. 

The  book  appeared  in  the  summer  of  1883  in  fine 
8vo.  form,  and  copies  of  it  were  sent  to  numerous 
editors,  some  of  whom  assailed  the  translation 
fiercely,  pointing  out  some  mistakes,  and  decrying 
pretty  much  the  whole  performance.  I  admit  there 
was  some  ground  for  the  reproof,  but  I  attributed  it 
all  to  my  translators,  but  that  I  acknowledge  was  no 
sufficient  vindication.  Some  contributors  to  several 
of  our  own  church  papers  were  also  severe  upon  me ; 
others  defended  the  book,  and  upon  the  whole  our 
church  press  was  favorable  to  it,  though  a  few  scrib- 
blers struck  at  me  personally  when  deigning  to  notice 
the  book.  Some  of  the  errors  were  corrected  in  the 
stereotype  plates,  the  price  was  reduced,  and  in 
about  six  months  the  third  edition  of  1,000  copies 
was  still  in  demand. 

The  Scribners  brought  out  an  edition  translated 
and  published  in  England,  which  is  said  to  be  very 
fair,  though,  as  a  judicious  friend  tells  me,  it  con- 
tains not  a  few  errors  in  the  rendering,  and  miscon- 
ceptions of  the  original  text.  I  presume  that  many 
copies  were  sold,  as  that  house  has  it  in  its  power  to 
push  forward  any  book  it  chooses  to  put  on  the 
market. 

The  fact  is  that  thousands  of  readers  became 
weary  of  this  subject,  as  it  was  so  frequently  brought 
to  their  attention,  and  too  many  were  satisfied  with 
the  superficial  knowledge  they  had  derived  from  the 


336  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

reading*  of  some  popular  biography  cf  Luther,   or 
from  the  hearing  of  sermons  and  addresses. 

BAD    TREATMENT. 

I  presume  there  are  few  of  us  upon  whom  some 
mean  trick  has  not  been  played.  I  do  not  mean 
such  small  affairs  as  being  cheated  in  trade,  or  over- 
charged in  a  purchase,  or  loaned  money  never  being 
returned,  or  hospitality  abused,  or  favors  unrequited, 
or  being  evil  spoken  of  by  some  to  whom  you  have 
been  kind.  These  are  bad  enough,  but  there  are 
some  things  done  to  us  occasionally  which  are  so 
mean  and  contemptible,  so  utterly  inexcusable  and 
vulgar,  so  savoring  of  the  sulphurous  pit,  that  you 
cannot  think  of  them  with  patience. 

Some  years  ago  I  was  roused  up  at  midnight  by  a 
terrific  knock  at  my  door.  A  man  stood  below  whom 
I  could  not  distinctly  discern,  but  in  a  hurried  voice 
he  informed  me  that  one  of  the  finest  young  men  in 
my  church,  who  lived  more  than  a  mile  distant,  was 
suddenly  and  alarmingly  taken  ill  and  wanted  to  see 
me.  I  hurried  out  to  his  house  with  locomotive 
speed,  and  when  I  got  there,  out  of  breath  and  half 
dead  myself  from  the  exertion,  I  found  that  I  had 
been  deceived.  The  young  man  was  not  sick.  The 
thought  then  flashed  upon  my  mind  that  I  had  been 
thus  betrayed  from  home  by  burglars,  who  would 
take  advantage  of  my  absence  to  rob  my  house,  and 
then  the  way  I  hastened  home  was  a  lesson  to  pro- 
fessional runners,  but  I  found  all  right  and  my 
household  undisturbed. 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  337 

I  concluded  it  was  nothing"  but  a  mean  trick, 
which  no  doubt  afforded  merriment  to  some  sons  of 
Belial.  They  compelled  me  to  take  some  active 
midnight  exercise,  and  that  was  fun  for  them,  but 
most  painful  anxiety  to  me. 

I  will  give  another  instance,  which  was  not  only 
unspeakably  mean,  but  ungodly. 

A  long  time  ago  a  man  imposed  himself  upon  me 
as  a  guest.  The  best  chamber  in  the  house  was 
given  him,  and  the  ' '  best  the  market  afforded  ' ' 
was  daily  set  before  him.  After  he  had  been  with 
me  several  days,  loafing  about  to  no  profit  to  himself 
or  advantage  to  others,  he  asked  me  about  the  value 
of  a  certain  bank's  notes.  I  told  him  that  they  were 
not  worth  a  button,  the  bank  was  smashed,  and  a 
bushel  of  its  issues  would  not  bring  five  cents.  He 
then  handed  me  a  five-dollar  bill  of  that  bank,  and 
said  that  a  lady  whom  he  had  met  in  a  distant  State 
had  given  him  that  as  a  present  to  a  little  girl  of 
mine.     I   took  it,   of  course,   remarking  that    Mrs. 

H ,   who  was  a  friend  of  ours,   surely  did  not 

know  the  condition  of  the  bank,  but  the  dishonest 
bearer  of  the  gift  said  nothing.  The  child  was  told 
that  the  note  was  worth  nothing,  and  of  course 
lamented  it.  About  a  year  after  this  lady  friend 
visited  my  family,  and  my  little  girl,  in  her  childish 

simplicity,  said,  ' '  Why,  Mrs.  H ,  that  five-dollar 

note   you   sent   me   by   Mr.    was   not   good!" 

Mrs.    H was   amazed   and   mortified   and   told 

her  she  had  not  sent  a  bank  note,  but  a  five-dollar 


338  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

gold  piece ! !  What  was  the  natural,  logical,  though 
unpleasant  inference?  The  fellow  kept  the  gold 
and  gave  me  the  note,  which  he  knew  was  worth- 
less. 

My  name  was  once  forged  in  a  letter  purporting 
to  be  an  introduction  from  me  to  a  countr}T  minister. 
The  guilty  scamp  tried  to  impose  upon  the  minister 
by  getting  money  from  him  on  the  strength  of  the 
letter ;  but  the  latter  was  too  shrewd  to  be  deceived, 
and  the  rascal  went  away  without  any  ill-gotten 
gain.  The  forged  letter  and  all  the  circumstances 
were  published  in  the  village  newspaper,  and  the 
people  were  warned  against  him. 

HOUSE    ROBBED. 

Every  now  and  then,  but  not  often,  we  hear  of  a 
minister's  house  being  burglarized,  which  always 
reminds  me  of  the  remark  of  a  Presbyterian  bach- 
elor minister,  whose  house  had  thus  been  visited  by 
unwelcome  guests.  He  said  to  me,  ' '  What  fools 
these  fellows  must  be  to  rob  my  house  at  night, 
when  I  can't  find  anything  in  it  in  day-time!" 

I  had  two  such  visits  during  my  residence  on  Lex- 
ington street,  Baltimore.  My  study  was  in  a  build- 
ing behind  the  church,  and  on  entering  one  morning 
I  found  things  in  general  confusion.  It  had  been 
entered  by  thieves,  but  there  was  nothing  there 
they  wanted,  so  that  I  missed  nothing  whatever. 
They  removed  some  of  my  insect  drawers  from  the 
cases,  and  left  them  uninjured  on  the  table,  having 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  339 

taken,  no  doubt,  a  lesson  in  entomology  before 
leaving. 

The  second  visit  I  had  from  these  gentlemen  was 
one  summer  evening  just  after  nightfall.  My  family 
were  in  the  country,  and  I  had  gone  down  town.  No 
doubt  I  was  watched,  and  as  soon  as  I  had  gone  the 
front  door  was  opened  with  a  night-key.  My  cham- 
ber was  entered,  and  my  drawers  forced  open.  A 
heavy  gold  medal,  worth  $50  or  more,  which  was 
presented  to  my  brother  George  by  the  Masonic 
fraternity,  was  taken,  together  with  a  lot  of  other 
valuable  articles.  This  robbery  was  committed  by 
the  son  of  my  sexton,  who  was  afterwards  sent  to 
the  penitentiary  for  some  other  crime. 

The  third  visit  was  made  at  my  house  in  Green 
street.  Nothing  but  clothing  was  taken,  of  which 
the  ladies'  dresses  and  shawls  were  subsequently 
recovered  by  the  police. 

CURIOUS    WEDDING    EVENT. 

I  once  had  a  very  embarrassing  and  at  the  same 
time  provoking  experience  at  a  wedding.  I  was 
called  upon  to  unite  in  matrimony,  at  the  house  of 
a  friend,  a  couple  who  were  strangers  to  me.  When 
all  was  ready  I  took  my  position  and  invited  the 
parties  to  rise,  which  they  did.  I  had  scarcely  be- 
gun the  service  when  the  lady  suddenly  left  the  side 
of  the  intended  bridegroom  and  ran  to  a  chair,  de- 
claring she  would  not  be  married.  This  caper 
created   surprise    and   confusion.     The  few  friends 


34°  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

present  prevailed  upon  her  to  stand  up  again.  I 
proceeded,  and  off  she  bolted  again.  They  begged 
her  to  submit,  and  she  did;  but  before  I  was  half 
done  she  darted  off  the  third  time,  and  this  insane 
manoeuvre  she  repeated  again  several  times  over, 
until  finally  she  stood  long  enough  for  me  to  con- 
clude the  ceremony.  The  secret  was  that  she  was  a 
Romanist,  and  did  not  believe  in  the  validity  of  my 
right  to  perform  this  service,  although  she  had  pre- 
viously given  her  consent. 

That  night  I  went  to  the  meeting  of  a  scientific 
society,  and  in  the  midst  of  the  proceedings  a 
strange,  out-of-breath  man,  rushed  in,  and  asked 
me  for  the  license,  which  I  fortunately  had  in  my 
pocket.  The  mother  of  the  bride  insisted  on  her 
being  married  over  by  a  Romish  priest  that  night ! 

KOSSUTH  IN  BALTIMORE. 
(From  a  leading  morning  paper.) 
The  visit  of  Kossuth  to  Baltimore  during  the 
past  week  threw  our  city  into  a  perfect  furor.  Our 
newspaper  columns  are  full  of  Kossuth  only  and 
continually.  Americans,  above  all  people,  perhaps, 
are  disposed  to  give  manifestations  of  popular  favor 
to  foreign  visitors  which  border  upon  man-worship ; 
and  however  worthy  Kossuth  may  be,  and  however 
noble  his  cause,  certainly  the  enthusiasm  he  has 
awakened  here  is  quite  equal  to  all  he  has  a  right  to 
expect.  To  publish  all  his  speeches,  and  all  the 
speeches  of  those  who  visited  him  as  committees  of 
reception,  would  nearly  fill  our  paper  entire. 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  341 

"  A  number  of  our  Baltimore  ministers  paid  their 
respects  to  him  on  Monday  evening  at  the  Eutaw 
House.  We  were  not  present,  and  learn  that  there 
were  perhaps  fifty  ministers  present.  Kossuth  is 
doubtless  a  sincere  patriot — a  man  full  of  genius  and 
full  of  the  love  of  his  country.  His  manifestation  of 
religious  feeling  is  perhaps  greater  than  we  have 
ever  seen  in  any  man  of  such  political  distinction. 

' '  The  address  of  Rev.  Dr.  Morris  is  one  of  the  best 
that  have  been  spoken  to  Kossuth  since  he  came  to 
America.  We  say  among  the  best  because  it  is  full 
of  religion,  of  the  providence  of  God,  of  the  Bible, 
of  Protestant  Christianity.  It  was  delivered  with 
great  dignity  and  impressiveness.  The  address  and 
reply  are  subjoined. 

KOSSUTH    AND    THE    CITY    CLERGY. 

"  About  seven  o'clock  a  large  number  of  the  Pro- 
testant ministers  of  Baltimore  waited  upon  the  Gov- 
ernor, who  was  addressed  in  the  following  beautiful 
and  touching  address  by  Rev.  Dr.  John  G.  Morris, 
of  the  English  Lutheran  church,  Lexington  street : 

"Gov.  Kossuth — These,  my  brethren  and  I,  appear  as  the 
representatives  of  the  Protestant  clergy  of  Baltimore  to  welcome 
you  to  our  city.  We  have  come  as  the  ministers  of  Jesus  Christ 
to  pay  our  respects  to  you,  a  Protestant  brother  in  the  faith,  an 
observer  of  the  Lord's  day,  an  admirer  and  lover  of  the  Scrip- 
tures, and  a  worshiper  of  God.  We  have  come  to  salute  you  as 
a  defender  of  the  weak,  the  helper  of  the  oppressed,  the  advo- 
cate of  human  rights  and  the  promoter  of  human  liberty.  We 
recognize  you  as  an  instrument  designed  by  Providence  to  rouse 


342  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

the  oppressed  nations  of  Europe  to  a  sense  of  their  wrongs  by 
so  eloquently  instructing  us  in  the  history  of  their  sufferings. 
Your  efforts,  Governor,  will  affect  not  only  your  own  unhappy 
country,  but  all  Europe  will  feel  their  influence.  When  Hun- 
gary fell  we  all  mourned,  and  followed  Kossuth  into  his  exile 
with  our  sympathies  and  prayers  ;  but  who  knows  but  that 
Providence  designs  from  that  first  fall  to  raise  her  higher  than 
she  has  ever  been,  and  from  her  present  enslaved  condition  to 
make  her  more  free  than  ever  ?  God  ma}^  have  seen  it  neces- 
sary to  humble  her  before  exalting  her.  He  often  deals  so  with 
men  ;  why  not  with  nations? 

"It  was  in  the  exile  and  apparent  humiliation  of  Luther  in 
Wartburg  Castle  that  he  forged  that  mighty  weapon  with  which 
he  dealt  such  tremendous  blows  on  the  enemies  of  the  truth, 
and  so  gloriously  carried  on  the  work  of  the  Reformation— I 
mean  the  German  translation  of  the  Bible.  He  was  humbled 
only  to  be  exalted — imprisoned  and  exiled  only  to  gather 
strength  for  the  coming  conflict ;  and  well  did  he  sustain  the 
fight,  and  nobly  did  he  achieve  the  victory. 

"  It  may  be  that  Hungary  is  now  humbled  only  that  she  may 
recover  her  energy — that  youths  just  growing  to  manhood  may 
be  the  better  prepared  for  the  struggle — that  her  warriors, 
statesmen  and  patriotic  women  may  learn  to  look  to  Heaven 
for  help.  It  may  be  that  Kossuth  was  exiled  and  humbled  that 
he  too  might  fill  his  quiver  with  fresher  and  keener  arrows,  and 
prepare  for  himself  a  mighty  weapon  to  be  wielded  with  terrible 
energy  in  behalf  of  his  cause.  I  mean  a  knowledge  of  the 
English  language.  It  may  be  that  he  was  exiled  and  humbled 
to  teach  him  dependence  on  God,  and  to  mistrust  himself. 

"  There  is  one  thing,  Governor,  which  excites  our  admiration 
in  your  public  speeches  and  conduct,  and  which  will  enlist  the 
sympathies  of  millions  of  Christian  hearts  in  our  country. 
You  recognize  in  all  things  the  direct  agency  of  God — and  de- 
pend on  Him  for  success  in  your  cause — you  have  publicly  ac 
knowledged  the  Scriptures  as  the  inspired  Word  of  God.  You 
have  publicly  recommended   the  religious  observance   of  the 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  343 

Lord's  Day.  You  have  in  a  quiet  and  unostentatious  manner 
frequented  the  house  of  God,  and  have  thus  set  an  example  to 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  foreigners,  and  of  our  own  country- 
men, who  neglect  the  sanctuary.  We  admire  you  for  all  this, 
independently  of  many  other  grounds.  We  hope  these  princi- 
ples will  continue  to  animate  your  bosom,  and  characterize 
your  brilliant  career  all  through  the  land. 

"Governor,  you  know  what  the  Psalmist  says:  'Except  the 
Lord  build  the  city,  they  labor  in  vain  that  build  it.'  Let  that 
be  your  motto,  and  the  God  of  nations  will  bless  you  in  your 
patriotic  efforts  to  deliver  your  land  from  the  shackles  of  bond- 
age. May  God  therein  give  you  success.  May  He  preserve 
your  own  life  until  the  great  work  of  Hungarian  liberty  shall 
have  been  consummated — yea,  until  all  those  everywhere  groan- 
ing under  the  yoke  of  despotism  shall  have  become  free. 

kossuth's  reply. 

11  '  It  is  some  twelve  years  ago,'  said  he,  '  that  for 
my  decided  attachment  to  the  rights  of  a  free  press, 
which  had  never  been  oppressed  except  by  the  arbi- 
trary laws  of  my  country,  I  was  put  in  prison  by  the 
Austrian  government,  where  I  lay  three  years. 
The  first  year  they  gave  me  nothing  to  read  and 
nothing  to  write  with.  In  the  second  they  came  and 
told  me  it  would  be  granted  me  to  read  something, 
but  that  I  must  not  make  my  choice  of  any  political 
book,  but  only  an  indifferent  one.  I  pondered  a 
little,  and  knowing  that  a  knowledge  of  languages 
was  a  key  to  sciences,  I  concluded  that  it  might  per- 
haps be  useful  to  get  some  little  knowledge  of  the 
English  language.  So  I  told  them  I  would  name 
some  books  which  would  not  partake  in  the  remotest 


344  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

way  with  politics.  I  asked  for  an  English  grammar, 
Shakespeare  and  Walker's  dictionary.  The  books 
were  given,  and  I  sat  down,  without  knowing  a 
single  word,  and  began  to  read  the  Tempest,  the 
first  play  of  Shakespeare,  and  worked  for  a  fortnight 
to  get  through  the  first  page.      (Laughter.) 

"'I  have  a  certain  rule,  never  to  go  on  in  reading 
anything  without  perfectly  understanding  what  I 
read.  So  I  went  on,  and  by  and  by  became  some- 
what familiar  with  your  language.  Now,  I  made 
that  choice  because  I  was  forced  not  to  choose  a 
book  of  any  political  character.  I  chose  books  which 
had  not  the  remotest  connection  with  politics.  But 
look  what  an  instrument  in  the  hands  of  Providence 
became  my  little  knowledge  of  the  English  language, 
which  I  was  obliged  to  learn  because  forbidden  to 
meddle  with  politics.  If  I  had  come  out  of  prison 
to  England  and  America  without  this  little  knowl- 
edge of  your  language,  I  never  would  have  been  able 
to  express  even  my  thanks  for  your  generous  sym- 
pathy ;  but  now  I  am  permitted  not  only  to  thank 
you,  but  to  explain  my  humble  views — to  explain 
the  principles  which  under  the  protection  of  your 
Constitution  afford  freedom  of  thought  and  of  con- 
science, and  the  protection  of  that  freedom  even  to 
every  stranger  in  your  country.  And  if  my  humble, 
unpretending  explanations  can  somewhat  contribute 
to  conserve  your  generous  sympathy  in  republican 
hearts  towards  the  oppressed  nations  of  Europe, 
what  a  mighty  instrument  of  welfare  and  benefit  to 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  345 

mankind,  because  in  the  hand  of  Providence,  that 
little  knowledge  which  I  acquired. ' 

"  Kossuth  went  on  to  speak  of  the  confidence  he 
had  in  God,  from  the  fact  that  every  time  he  was 
crushed  down  to  the  earth,  when  he  got  up  again 
upon  his  feet  he  was  more  strong  and  powerful  than 
before — more  competent  for  the  fulfillment  of  his 
duties  for  his  country  and  for  humanity.  Ten  or 
twelve  times  they  endeavored  to  crush  him,  and 
succeeded  for  the  moment,  but  he  never  despaired, 
and  subsequent  events  always  proved  that  what  God 
does  is  well  done. 

' '  Again  he  enforced  the  great  principle  of  Christ- 
ianity— brotherly  love — in  respect  to  nations  as  well 
as  individuals.  He  was  sure  that  the  time  would 
come  when  nations  would  acknowledge  that  princi- 
ple as  a  rule  of  conduct,  and  that  this  nation  was  the 
one  selected  by  Providence  to  lead  on  this  new 
reformation.  That  glory  was  reserved  not  to  a 
single  individual,  but  to  the  United  States,  to  be- 
come the  regenerators  of  international  policy,  basing 
it  upon  the  principle  of  Christian,  brotherly  love. 
(Applause.)  Whatever  might  be  the  decision  of  this 
country  now,  whether  willing  or  not  willing  to  adopt 
that  principle,  it  would  sooner  or  later  come  to  that 
point,  when  it  would  feel  itself  to  be  the  executive 
power  on  earth  of  the  laws  of  nature  and  of  nature's 
God. 

' '  Kossuth  apologized  for  his  inability  to  speak  the 
English  language  as  well  as  he  could  wish,  and  said 


346  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

that  it  was  hard  work  for  him  to  do  it,  notwith- 
standing the  constant  exercise  he  had.  He  was 
growing  old,  and  old  men  did  not  easily  advance  in 
the  knowledge  of  languages.  Grammar  was  for 
children  —  scarcely  for  men.  In  conclusion  he 
thanked  them  for  their  kind  indulgence  in  listening 
to  him  so  long  with  such  attention,  and  though  he 
was  somewhat  worn  out,  both  in  body  and  mind, 
never  would  he  be  so  worn  out  as  not  to  remember 
with  gratitude  the  generous  manifestation  of  their 
approbation  and  sympathy.  Throughout  this  ad- 
dress, which  occupied  about  twenty-five  minutes, 
Kossuth  was  listened  to  with  breathless  attention  in 
a  crowded  room. 

"  At  the  conclusion  of  his  felicitous  remarks  the 
ministers  were  severally  introduced  to  the  illustrious 
stranger  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Heiner.  The  Episcopal, 
Lutheran,  German  Reformed,  Presbyterian,  Metho- 
dist and  Baptist  denominations  were  all  largely,  and 
some  of  them  fully,  represented.  The  number  of 
ministers  present  could  not  be  less  than  fifty  or  sixty. 
The  meeting  was  one  of  high  gratification  on  all 
sides,  and  will  doubtless  be  long  remembered.  All 
seemed  to  be  most  favorably  impressed  with  what 
passed,  and  the  Governor  himself  appeared  highly 
delighted  with  the  interview.  His  remarks  on  the 
subject  of  divine  Providence,  especially  with  refer- 
ence to  himself,  and  the  spread  and  final  triumph  of 
the  principle  of  brotherly  love  among  all  mankind, 
were  very  beautiful  and  Scriptural. 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  347 

1 '  After  the  interview  the  clergymen  were  intro- 
duced to  Madame  Kossuth  and  Madame  Pulzsky, 
who  received  and  entertained  them  a  while  in  the 
most  handsome  manner. 

Kossuth  had  been  in  my  church  the  previous  Sun- 
day. The  most  violent  snow-storm  of  the  winter 
prevailed,  and  very  few  people  were  present.  I  had 
not  invited  him  to  church,  as  a  morning  paper  said, 
for  I  never  employed  such  clap-trap  measures  to 
draw  a  crowd;  but  a  few  days  before  his  arrival  he 
wrote  to  Mayor  Jerome  to  recommend  a  Lutheran 
church,  and  he  mentioned  ours. 

Several  years  after,  a  large  meeting  of  Presby- 
terian ministers  assembled  here.  One  of  them,  of 
my  name,  sought  me  out  on  purpose,  as  he  said,  to 
thank  me  for  my  address  to  Kossuth. 

LISTS    OF    LUTHERAN    PUBLICATIONS. 

Some  years  ago  (1876)  I  published  a  small  volume 
which  I  called  Bibliothcca  Luther  ana,  wherein  I  gave 
the  title  of  every  book  or  pamphlet  issued  under  the 
name  of  a  Lutheran  minister  in  the  United  States 
up  to  that  time.  It  cost  me  considerable  work,  and 
was  as  complete  as  could  be  made.  Dr.  Sheeleigh 
kindly  furnished  a  list  of  the  periodicals  of  the 
Church,  which  enhanced  its  value  as  a  book  of  refer- 
ence on  that  subject. 

Of  course  it  did  not  pay  expenses,  which  I  appre- 
hended, but  I  thought  I  would  publish  it  as  my  con- 
tribution to  the  Church  Jubilee,  which  was  cele- 
brated that  year. 


348  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

Nearly  every  year  since  that  I  have  carefully  made 
a  list  of  every  publication  of  book  or  pamphlet  dur- 
ing the  year,  gathering  the  titles  from  10  or  12  of 
our  church  papers.  I  took  a  sort  of  church  pride  in 
exhibiting  the  literary  work  of  our  men,  and  at  first 
I  was  simple  enough  to  think  that  many  others  would 
look  upon  it  with  some  interest.  But  I  was  disap- 
pointed, for  no  person  seemed  to  notice  it,  and  only 
one  editor,  and  he  was  not  a  General  Synod  man, 
ever  made  any  allusion  to  it.  I  should,  however, 
say  that  Mr.  Stall,  the  wide-awake  editor  of  the 
Year  Book,  prevailed  upon  me  to  let  him  insert  the 
list  one  year  as  far  as  October,  and  wanted  it  for  the 
next,  but  I  replied  that  few  or  none  would  look  at  it, 
and  he  should  not  devote  a  single  page  of  his  admir- 
able book  to  dead  matter. 

It  is,  however,  gratifying  to  men  of  cultivated 
taste  to  observe  the  progress  of  literature  and  of 
authorial  activity  in  the  Church,  and  even  though 
most  of  the  publications  are  small,  yet  most  of  them 
give  evidence  of  advance  in  generous  studies. 

For  several  years,  between  1 883-1886,  the  Rev. 
Prof.  Frick,  of  St.  Peter,  Minn.,  also  published  a 
list,  embracing  more  of  the  writings  of  Scandinavian 
ministers  than  mine  did.  I  engaged  him  and  Prof. 
Schodde,  of  Columbus,  Ohio,  to  join  me  in  prepar- 
ing a  list  as  accurately  as  possible,  beginning  with 
1886,  so  that  it  is  likely  hereafter  no  publication  of 
a  Lutheran  minister  will  be  omitted.  It  is  a  matter 
interesting  to  very  few,  but  it  is  a  part  of  our  Church 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  349 

history  which  should  be  written,  even  if  it  should 
only  be  read  by  a  few. 

July,  1889. — The  above  proposition,  made  to  those 
gentleman,  was  not  carried  out,  so  that  for  four  or 
five  years  we  have  had  no  annual  list  of  our  Church 
publications. 

VISITS    FROM  FOREIGNERS. 

I  had  the  pleasure  of  receiving  visits  from  a  num- 
ber of  foreign  gentlemen,  among  whom  I  will  men- 
tion only  such  as  now  occur  to  my  mind. 

Koch,  a  German  conchologist  of  great  name, 
called  at  my  house,  but  unfortunately  I  was  just 
getting  ready  to  go  to  a  meeting,  and  he  did  not 
stay  long. 

Mr.  Alexander,  an  English  botanist,  spent  several 
hours  with  me  looking  over  my  herbarium,  which  at 
that  time  was  very  insignificant.  He  came  over 
here  to  study  the  botany  of  the  pine  forests  of  the 
South.  He  called  on  his  return,  but  I  did  not  see 
him. 

Prof.  Von  Raumer  and  his  son,  of  Berlin,  spent  a 
whole  day  here.  I  went  with  them  everywhere  I 
thought  worthy  of  a  visit,  even  to  the  top  of  the 
Washington  Monument.  He  was  in  raptures  with 
that  view.  What  he  wanted  to  see  particularly  was 
a  Methodist  negro  meeting.  He  wished  to  study  it 
as  a  psychologist,  for  he  had  heard  wonderful  things 
about  it,  which  are  to  us  every-day  events,  but  to  a 
German  philosopher  they  are  simply  marvelous.    He 


350  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

went  (I  could  not  go  with  him  that  night),  and  he 
was  overcome  with  amazement,  and  yet  from  his 
description  I  should  judge  that  it  had  not  been  a 
very  "lively"  meeting;  still  the  manifestations 
seemed  extraordinary,  and  he  wondered  ' '  why  the 
government  did  not  break  them  up!"  He  had 
been  to  Washington,  and  I  shall  never  forget  his 
criticisms  on  the  group  of  statuary  on  the  east  front 
of  the  Capitol,  though  this  is  not  the  place  to  record 
them. 

Zimmermann,  a  learned  German  entomologist,  re- 
mained here  some  months,  and  I  was  with  him  or 
he  at  my  house  almost  every  day.  It  was  he  who 
gave  me,  as  his  own  offer,  a  Paris  clock  worth  $36 
and  a  mahogany  book-case  for  which  he  gave  $40 
for  one  specimen  of  an  African  beetle  (Goliathus 
cacicus). 

Young  Schaum,  a  nephew  of  Germar,  whom  I 
met  in  Germany,  was  also  here,  and  spent  many 
hours  with  me.  I  have  many  letters  in  my  book 
from  him. 

Years  ago  most  of  the  young  German  ministers 
who  landed  at  Baltimore  came  to  my  house,  and 
some  of  whom  I  kept  for  several  days.  I  believe 
that  now  few  of  them  are  living. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

OFFICES  HELD— PUBLISHED  WRITINGS  AND  MANUSCRIPTS- 
PAPERS  READ  BEFORE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETIES  IN  MARYLAND 
—LEARNED  SOCIETIES. 

I  have  held  a  number  of  positions  in  the  Church 
and  out  of  it.  The  following  list  includes  only  the 
most  important  positions  of  this  character  to  which 
I  have  had  the  honor  of  being-  chosen : 

President  of  the  Baltimore  Lyceum. 

President  of  the  Linnaean  Society  of  Pennsylvania 
College,  Gettysburg,  Pa. 

President  of  the  Young  Men's  Bible  Society  of 
Baltimore,  Md. 

President  of  the  Maryland  State  Bible  Society. 

President  of  the  Maryland  Academy  of  Science. 

President  of  the  Maryland  Historical  Society. 

President  of  the  Society  for  the  History  of  the 
Germans  in  Maryland. 

President  of  the  Historical  Society  of  the  Luth- 
eran Church. 

President  of  the  Academy  of  Church  History  of 
the  Lutheran  Church  in  America. 

Vice  President  for  Maryland  of  the  Society  of  the 
Sons  of  the  American  Revolution. 
(350 


352  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

In  the  Church  I  have  served  as  President  of  the 
Synod  of  Maryland  seven  or  eight  times,  and  several 
times  as  Secretary;  twice  as  President  of  the  Gen- 
eral Synod,  and  twice  as  Secretary ;  as  Director  of 
the  Seminary  for  a  period  of  over  60  years,  and  sev- 
eral times  as  President  and  Secretary;  as  a  Trustee 
of  Pennsylvania  College  for  about  the  same  time, 
and  as  President  of  the  Lutheran  Historical  Society 
ever  since  the  death  of  Dr.  Schmucker. 

I  was  once  elected  professor  in  the  Theological 
Seminary,  and  also  in  the  College,  at  Gettysburg, 
but  I  declined,  not  feeling  myself  competent  for 
either  position.  It  was  a  joint  professorship,  but  I 
thought  the  pulpit  was  my  proper  sphere.  Profes- 
sors were  scarce  in  those  early  days,  and  some  of  us 
young  men  did  not  think  ourselves  qualified  for 
every  position  in  church  or  state,  as  it  is  said  many 
young  men  of  these  modern  times  do,  fit  for  any 
position.  One  not  very  young  man  said  to  me  him- 
self that  he  felt  himself  qualified  to  fill  any  place  in 
the  Faculty  of  Pennsylvania  College,  from  the  Pres- 
ident down.  Somehow  or  other  the  Trustees  differed 
from  him,  and  he  has  never  been  offered  any  office 
in  that  college,  not  even  a  tutorship  in  Prep  ! 

In  1870  I  was  elected  President  of  the  Maryland 
Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  which  I  held  for  a 
long  time,  but  from  which  I  retired  to  make  room 
for  another. 

Many  years  ago  I  was  elected  Professor  of  Natural 
History  in  the  University  of  Maryland,  at  Baltimore, 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  353 

which  was  an  office  without  honor,  work  or  profit. 
To  secure  certain  privileges  it  was  necessary  to  fill 
the  Faculties,  upon  which  a  number  of  men  were 
chosen  to  certain  positions  in  the  scientific  and  theo- 
logical departments,  not  one  of  whom  was  ever  called 
upon,  and  not  even  expected  to  perform  any  service. 

About  the  year  1858  I  was  elected  a  Trustee  of 
the  Peabody  Institute,  but  I  have  already  considered 
my  connection  with  that  institution,  and  will  not 
refer  to  it  further. 

I  consider  myself  the  founder  of  the  Linnaean 
Society  at  Pennsylvania  College,  Gettysburg,  Pa., 
and  was  chosen  its  first  President.  I  was  also  one  of 
the  founders  of  the  Maryland  Academy  of  Sciences. 

For  some  years  I  was  nominally  Lecturer  on 
Zoology  in  the  Gettysburg  College,  and  several 
times  gave  partial  courses  of  lectures.  The  College 
could  not  afford  to  pay  me  any  salary,  and  my  ser- 
vices were  gratuitous,  excepting  for  one  series  of  lec- 
tures, for  which  $300  were  raised  by  Rev.  Dr.  F.  W. 
Conrad,  C.  A.  Morris  and  Samuel  Appold,  the  latter 
of  Baltimore,  each  of  whom  gave  $100.  This  was  a 
proposition  of  my  excellent  friend  Dr.  Conrad,  who 
suggested  and  secured  the  subscriptions  from  the 
other  two  gentlemen. 

For  many  years  I  have  been  a  lecturer  in  the 
Theological  Seminary  at  Gettysburg,  where  I  have 
given  an  annual  course  of  lectures  on  the  "Connec- 
tion between  Science  and  Revelation, ' '  and  also  on 
"Pulpit  Elocution." 
23 


354  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

In  1886  a  number  of  us  in  Baltimore  established  a 
Society  for  the  investigation  of  the  History  of  the 
Germans  in  Maryland,  of  which  I  was  elected  the 
first  President,  and  have  been  re-elected  every  year 
since. 

In  January,  1886,  a  few  of  us  founded  a  Baltimore 
County  Historical  Society  at  Towson,  Md. ,  of  which 
I  was  chosen  President.  It  was  composed  of  very 
few  members,  and  no  interest  whatever  could  be 
excited  in  the  subject,  and  the  Society  soon  became 
extinct. 

For  many  years  I  had  been  one  of  the  three  Vice- 
Presidents  of  the  Historical  Society  of  Maryland, 
which  office  imposes  no  severe  duties.  At  the  an- 
nual meeting  of  the  Society,  in  February,  1891, 
John  Lee,  Librarian,  resigned.  He  received  no 
stipulated  salary,  but  an  annual  sum  of  several  hun- 
dred dollars  was  voted  to  him.  The  Constitution  of 
the  Society  requires  the  annual  election  of  a  Libra- 
rian, and  as  it  is  an  unsalaried  office,  and  as  I  had  leis- 
ure to  attend  to  it,  I  consented  to  an  election.  I  go 
there  during  the  winter  nearly  every  day,  and  spend 
several  hours  in  answering  letters,  opening  docu- 
ments, and  receiving  new  books  coming  in,  giving 
information  to  visitors  who  come  to  consult  books  or 
old  records,  and  so  on. 

The  Assistant  Librarian,  John  Gatchell,  attends 
to  all  routine  work,  and  Daniel,  the  janitor,  brings 
the  mail  and  keeps  the  house  in  order. 

On  February  11,  1894,  I  was  elected  President  of 
the  Maryland  Historical  Society. 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  355 

PARTIAL    LIST    OF    MY    PUBLISHED    WRITINGS    AND 
MANUSCRIPTS. 

Books. 

1832.   Catechumens'    and     Communicants'     Guide, 

i6mo. 

Exercises  on  Luther's  Catechism,  i6mo. 

1834.   Henry  and  Antonio;  or,  To  Rome  and  Back 

Again  (Trans.),  i2mo. 
1839.  Von  Leonhard's  Lectures  on  Geology  (Trans.), 

i2mo. 
1842.   Exposition  of  the  Gospels,  2  vols.,  i2mo. 
1844.   Year  Book  of  the   Reformation,  five  articles 
in,  8vo. 
Luther's  Catechism  Illustrated,  i2mo. 
1853.   Life  of  John  Arndt,  i2mo. 
1856.   The  Blind  Girl  of  Wittenberg,  8vo. 

Catharine  Von  Bora,  i2mo. 
1859.   Quaint  Sayings  and  Doings  of  Luther,  i2mo. 
Register  of  the  First  English  Lutheran  Church 
in  Baltimore,  from  1827  to  1859,  i2mo. 
1 86 1.   Synopsis  of  the  Described  Lepidoptera  of  the 
United  States,  8vo. 
Catalogue  of  Books  for  the  Peabody  Institute, 
8vo. 
1873.   A  Day  in  Capernaum,  (Trans.)  i2mo. 
1876.   Bibliotheca  Lutherana,  i2mo. 
1878.   Fifty  Years  in  the  Lutheran  Ministry,  8vo. 

1880.  Diet  of  Augsburg,  i2mo. 

1 88 1.  Journeys  of  Luther,  i2mo. 


356  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

1882.  Luther  at  Wartburg  Castle,  121110. 

1883.  Kostlin's  Life  of  Luther  (Trans.). 
1886.   The  Stork  Family. 

Pamphlets. 

1834.   Sermon  on  the  Reformation. 

1 84 1.  The  Study  of   Natural    History — Address  at 

Gettysburg. 
1844.   Address  at  the  Dedication  of  Mt.  Olivet  Cem- 
etery, Baltimore. 
1847.   Address  at  the   Dedication  of  Linnsean  Hall, 

Gettysburg. 
1855.   Martin  Behaim — the  German  Cosmographer. 
i860.   Catalogue  of   the    Described   Lepidoptera  of 
the  United  States. 

Two   Articles    on    the    Chinese    Silk   Worm 
(Samia  Cynthia).     Tn  Government  Reports. 

Entomology  (in  American  Museum). 
1867.   Address  at  the  Reformation  Jubilee. 

Luther's  Visit  to  Rome  (Year  Book). 

The  Theses  of  Luther  (Year  Book). 

John  Calvin  (Year  Book). 

John  Reuchlin  (Year  Book). 

Luther's  Cell  in  Erfurt  (Year  Book). 
1874.   The  Lords  Baltimore. 
1876.  History  of  the  Theological  Seminary. 

Luther  as  a  Pulpit  Orator. 

The  Literature  of  the  Lutheran  Church. 
1881.   The  Table  Talk  of  Martin  Luther. 

By-ways  in  the  Life  of  Luther. 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  357 

The  Asperities  of  Luther's  Language. 
Visits  to  the  Sick-bed  of  Martin  Luther. 

1882.  The  Young  and  German  Luther.     Bogatzki. 

1883.  The  Lutheran  Doctrine  of  the  Lord's  Supper. 
Address  at  the  Meeting  of  the  A.  A.  A.  S.  at 

Cincinnati. 
History  of  the  Annapolis  Tuesday  Club. 
Luther  in  Bronze  at  Washington. 
1887.   The  Lutheran  Origin  of  the  39  Articles  of  the 

Church  of  England. 

1 89 1.  Address   at   the    Muhlenberg   Celebration   at 

Selinsgrove. 

1892.  Conundrum  No.  2. 

1893.  Address  at  the  Laying  of  the  Corner-stone  of 

the  New  College  at  Gettysburg. 
The  German  in  Baltimore. 
The  Benefits  of  Historical  Societies. 
1895.   Sources  of  Information  on  the  History  of  the 

Lutheran  Church  in  America. 
My  seven  scrap-book  volumes  contain  many  of  my 
newspaper  articles  of  many  years.  Besides  all  these 
I  have  numerous  manuscripts,  some  of  which  may 
be  worth  looking  at.  Among  them  are,  Luther;  a 
Drama.  Some  of  these  scenes  have  been  printed  in 
some  of  our  papers,  and  a  few  of  them  have  been 
acted  by  amateur  players.  The  Life  of  Hans 
Egede,  Preuss  on  Justification,  From  Night  to 
Morning,  a  translation  from  Delitzsch,  are  included. 
The  latter  title  is  not  his,  but  a  fancy  one  which  I 
gave  it.     There  is  another  manuscript,  which  is  an 


358  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

abbreviated    translation    of    a    book    by    Melchior 
Nicoldi  in  vindication  of  Luther. 

PAPERS    READ    BEFORE    THE    MARYLAND    HISTORICAL 
SOCIETY. 

1861,  April  4.   The  Old  Stone  Mill  at  Newport,  R.  I. 
Dec.   5.   The  Ailanthus  Silk  Worm  of  China. 

1863,  Nov.   5.   A  List  of  the  Inhabitants  of  Balti- 

more in   1752,   with  their  Occupa- 
tions, etc. 

1864,  Dec.    1.   The  Lords  Baltimore  as  Authors. 

1865,  Nov.   2.   The   Dinners  of   the   Maryland  His- 

torical Society. 
Dec.  14.   A  Descriptive  Catalogue  of  the  Pub- 
lications of  the  Maryland  Historical 
Society. 

1866,  May   3.   A  paper  on  the  Lords  Baltimore,  and 

their  connection  with  the  Province 
of  Maryland. 

1867,  April  4.   A  Paper  upon  the  very  frequent  use 

of  foreign  words,  both  in  speaking 
and  writing. 

1868,  Jan.    2.   An  account  of  the  Tuesday  Club,  of 

Annapolis,  which  existed  in   1745, 
et  seq. 

1872,  June  10.   A  Contribution  to  a  History  of  Mary- 

land Literature. 

1873,  May  12.   Investigation  in  regard  to  the   Lord 

Baltimore  portrait,  now  in  posses- 
sion of  Titian  R.  Peale. 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  359 

1804,  Dec.    8.   The    History  of   the    Society   of   the 
Cincinnati. 

PAPERS    READ    BEFORE    THE    SOCIETY    FOR    THE    GERMANS 
IN    MARYLAND. 

Some  of  these  have  been  printed  in  the  Proceed- 
ings. 

Sketch  of  the  Life  of  Prof.  Seyfurth;  printed  in 
No.  IV.,  p.  17,  of  Proceedings. 

Arrest  and  Trial  of  J.  D.  Smyth,  an  English  Loy- 
alist, by  Germans  of  Fredericktown,  during  Revo- 
lutionary times,  in  1776,  No.  IV.,  p.  35. 

Humane  Treatment  of  their  Slaves  by  the  Ger- 
mans of  the  Shenandoah  Valley. 

Biographical  Sketch  of  Rev.  John  Uhlhorn. 

Abbe  Domine's  wonderful  discovery  of  Indian 
Antiquities. 

Sketch  of  Conrad  Weiser. 

List  of  German  Books  relating  to  Maryland. 

Account  of  liberal  bequests  and  donations  of  for- 
eign born  German  citizens  to  charity  and  education 
in  America. 

LEARNED    SOCIETIES    OF    WHICH    I    AM    A    MEMBER. 

Corresponding  member  of  the  Academy  of  Sci- 
ence, Philadelphia. 

Corresponding  member  of  the  Academy  of  Sci- 
ence, Boston. 

Corresponding  member  of  the  Society  of  Natural 
History,  Nurnberg,  Germany,  with  diploma. 


360  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

Corresponding  member  of  the  New  York  Lyceum. 

Corresponding  member  of  the  Iowa  State  His- 
torical Society. 

Corresponding  member  of  the  Society  of  Northern 
Antiquarians,  Stockholm,  with  diploma. 

Corresponding  member  of  the  Royal  Historical 
Society,  London,  with  diploma. 

Member  of  the  American  Association  for  the 
Advancement  of  Science. 

Member  of  the  National  Society  of  Sciences, 
Washington. 

Member  of  the  American  Philosophical  Society, 
Philadelphia. 

Member  of  the  Brooklyn  Entomological  Society. 

Besides  these  I  have  been  chosen  a  member  of 
eight  or  ten  minor  and  local  scientific  societies. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

I, AST  DAYS— SICKNESS— DEATH— BURIAI,— RESOLUTIONS,  ETC. 

The  sturdy  figure  and  resonant  voice  of  the  Rev. 
John  G.  Morris  have  so  long  occupied  a  large  place 
in  the  life  of  the  community  and  of  the  Church  that 
it  is  difficult  to  realize  the  absence  and  the  silence 
that  have  followed  the  active  living.  The  closing 
years  of  this  patriarch  of  the  Church  were  in  no 
wise  different  from  the  rest.  They  were  also  filled 
to  the  brim  with  busy  labor,  in  many  directions,  for 
the  Zion  he  loved  so  well,  and  to  which  he  gave  the 
\rery  best  that  was  in  him  of  love,  loyalty,  service, 
for  the  many  interests  that  claimed  his  thought  and 
his  efforts.  The  years,  as  they  passed,  brought  no 
perceptible  change,  outwardly.  By  the  grace  of  a 
loving  Providence  Dr.  Morris  retained  his  physical 
vigor,  his  mental  forcefulness,  and  his  strong  per- 
sonality unweakened  even  to  the  last.  One  by  one 
the  earthly  ties  were  being  severed,  however,  and 
the  waiting,  almost  impatient,  spirit  was  finally  re- 
leased to  join  the  throng  of  loved  and  loving  ones  in 
the  great  host  of  the  glorified. 

The  last  few  birthday  celebrations  of  Dr.  Morris 
that  showed  him  prominently  to  the  public,  as  a 
(36i) 


362  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

most  vigorous  man,  in  spite  of  the  great  age  to 
which  he  had  attained,  were  very  full  of  enjoyment 
to  him.  As  the  eighth  decade  of  his  life  passed  by, 
it  became  more  and  more  the  custom  of  his  friends, 
not  only  in  the  city,  but  at  distant  points,  to  unite 
in  expressions  of  congratulations  and  good  wishes. 
The  following  extracts  from  the  city  papers  will  in- 
dicate something  of  the  love  and  esteem  that  were 
bestowed  upon  him,  and  in  which  his  closing  life 
rejoiced,  as  a  deserved  tribute  to  a  life  well  spent. 

One  of  the  Baltimore  morning  papers  remarked, 
on  November  14,  1893:  "  Dr.  John  G.  Morris,  who 
claims  to  be  the  only  man  living  who  had  a  father 
in  the  Revolution,  will  be  ninety  years  old  to-day. 
It  was  announced  at  the  meeting  of  the  Maryland 
Historical  Society  last  night.  Resolutions  of  con- 
gratulation were  offered  and  adopted,  and  on  motion 
it  was  decided  to  send  the  Doctor  a  bouquet  of  flow- 
ers to-day.  Dr.  Morris  was  present  at  the  meeting. 
He  arose  and  said:  '  This  is  a  surprise  to  me.  I 
have  received  congratulations,  and  expect  many 
more  in  my  mail  to-morrow.  I  must  tell  you  that 
this  is  exceedingly  gratifying.  It  is  difficult  for  me 
to  believe  that  I  am  ninety,  and  I  sometimes  believe 
that  the  recorders  of  my  birth  have  set  the  clock 
ahead  of  time.  I  expect  I  shall  be  wished  many 
happy  returns  of  the  day,  as  the  new  bride  was,  but 
the  clock  will  soon  stop  its  ticking.  The  will  of  the 
Lord  be  done.'  " 

In  speaking  of  the  anniversary  noted  above  another 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  363 

paper  said:  "  One  of  the  most  notable  men  of  the 
Lutheran  Church  in  the  United  States  is  celebrating 
the  90th  anniversary  of  his  birth  to-day.  That  man 
is  the  Rev.  John  G.  Morris,  D.  D.  Not  only  does 
Dr.  Morris  hold  a  notable  position  in  the  Church  on 
account  of  his  learning  and  piety,  but  he  occupies  a 
unique  place  by  reason  of  his  extreme  age.  For 
some  time  past  the  Lutheran  ministers  of  Baltimore, 
of  whom  Dr.  Morris  is  chief,  have  been  considering 
in  what  way  they  could  best  observe  the  birthday  of 
the  venerable  preacher,  and  a  committee  was  ap- 
pointed to  take  charge  of  the  matter.  After  many 
plans  had  been  suggested,  it  was  decided  to  present 
Dr.  Morris  with  a  group  picture  of  all  the  Lutheran 
ministers  in  Baltimore.  Taking  the  picture  with 
them,  the  ministers  went  in  a  body  to  Dr.  Morris' 
residence.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Chas.  S.  Albert  in  a  few 
words  congratulated  Dr.  Morris  on  his  venerable  age 
and  good  health.  He  also  thanked  him  in  the  name 
of  the  Lutheran  ministers  of  Baltimore  for  what  he 
had  done  for  the  Church  in  this  city  and  for  the 
Church  in  general.  Recognizing  his  deep  interest 
in  the  Church,  and  his  solicitude  for  the  welfare  of 
Lutheran  preachers,  it  gave  him  great  pleasure,  he 
said,  to  present  the  venerable  head  of  the  Lutheran 
Church  in  Baltimore  with  a  group  of  his  fellow- 
preachers. 

11  Dr.  Morris  made  a  feeling  response,  in  which  he 
expressed  love  for  the  Church  and  an  unabated  in- 
terest in  the  success  of  all  Lutheran  ministers.    Dur- 


364  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

ing  the  day  the  Maryland  Historical  Society  sent  a 
magnificent  basket  of  ninety  roses.  The  German 
Historical  Society  proposed  giving  the  Doctor  a 
dinner,  but  he  declined  the  honor. ' ' 

Among  the  many  letters  of  congratulation  that 
were  received  by  Dr.  Morris  on  this  ninetieth  anni- 
versary the  kindly  feeling  expressed  by  all  showed 
the  extent  of  the  regard  for  a  man  who  had  almost 
rounded  out  the  century  of  work.  Said  the  Rev.  H. 
Louis  Baugher,  D.  D.,  "  Allow  me  to  join  my  con- 
gratulations to  the  many  that  will  reach  you  on  the 
scores  you  have  made  in  life. ' '  The  Faculty  of  the 
Seminary  of  the  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church  at 
Chicago  said,  among  other  pleasant  things:  "  We 
congratulate  Dr.  Morris  upon  what  his  eyes  have 
seen  and  his  ears  have  heard  in  the  development  of 
the  Lutheran  Church  in  this  country ;  upon  the  good 
work  he  has  been  enabled  to  do,  and  upon  the  hon- 
orable place  he  has  taken  in  her  growth  and  history. ' ' 

From  a  number  of  entomologists,  of  Washington, 
D.  C,  there  came  this  sentiment:  "  Your  friends 
and  fellow  entomologists  send  heartfelt  greetings  on 
ycur  90th  birthday.  We  connect  you  with  the  very 
beginning  of  entomology  in  this  country,  and  hold 
you  dear,  not  only  for  your  works,  but  also  for  your 
big  heart  and  jovial  nature." 

The  Faculty  of  the  Theological  Seminary  at  Get- 
tysburg wrote:  "  Your  colleagues  in  the  Faculty  of 
the  Theological  Seminary  send  congratulations  on 
the   90th  anniversary  of  your  birth.     They  rejoice 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  365 

with  you  in  the  good  Providence  that  has  given  you 
so  many  happy  years  of  prominent,  distinguished 
and  efficient  service  in  the  church  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  and  hope  that  many  more  years  may  be 
granted  to  you. ' ' 

Judge  Albert  Ritchie,  of  the  Superior  Court  of 
Baltimore  city,  wrote :  "  I  most  cordially  congratu- 
late you  on  your  birthday,  and  unite  with  your  many 
friends  in  the  earnest  hope  that  you  may  long  be 
with  us,  and  that  good  health,  happiness  and  pros- 
perity may  wait  upon  you. ' ' 

On  the  occasion  of  Dr.  Morris'  ninety-first  anni- 
versary, November  14,  1894,  from  the  Maryland 
Society  Sons  of  the  American  Revolution  was  re- 
ceived the  following,  through  the  Secretary,  Mr.  John 
R.  Dorsey:  "  Allow  me  to  extend  the  congratula- 
tions of  the  Maryland  Society  S.  A.  R.  to  its  honored 
member  who  to-day  celebrates  his  ninety-first  birth- 
day. May  you,  the  son  of  a  Revolutionary  soldier, 
be  granted  many  more  years  of  usefulness  to  your 
friends  and  happiness  to  yourself. ' ' 

The  same  anniversary  brought  this  from  the  offi- 
cers of  the  House  of  Refuge,  a  reformatory  school 
of  the  city,  of  which  Dr.  Morris  was  long  a  manager, 
on  the  part  of  the  city :  ' '  Permit  us  to  offer  our  con- 
gratulations on  this  91st  anniversary  of  your  birth. 
We  who  have  so  long  experienced  so  many  tokens 
of  your  kindness,  so  many  words  of  sympathy  and 
encouragement  in  our  work,  feel  grateful  to  our 
heavenly  Father  that  He  has  prolonged  your  life  to- 
this  time." 


$66  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

President  D.  C.  Gilman,  of  Johns  Hopkins  Uni- 
versity, thus  expressed  his  interest  in  the  91st  anni- 
versary of  Dr.  Morris :  ' '  Allow  me  to  offer  you  my 
very  warm  congratulations  on  having  reached 
another  birthday  with  vigor  unimpaired ;  and  let  me 
beg  you  to  impart  to"  others  the  secret  of  good  health 
and  good  spirits  that  you  obviously  possess. " 

The  sunshine  that  brightened  the  life  of  Dr.  Mor- 
ris was  dimmed  in  the  last  days  by  clouds  of  sore 
affliction  and  of  loss  which  shadowed  his  pathway  in 
1893.  This  affliction  was  the  sudden  death  of  two 
persons  from  the  inner  circle  of  his  regard,  one  from 
out  the  very  centre  of  his  love.  From  that  time  the 
strong  man  was  bowed  down,  and  the  life  forces 
began  to  go  out.  His  tender  heart  was  sadly 
wounded,  and  he  turned  more  than  ever  to  that 
place  where  his  treasures  were  held  in  eternal  safety, 
waiting  his  enjoyment  of  them.  To  all  who  knew 
and  loved  Dr.  Morris,  the  inevitable  change  that  was 
fast  coming  over  him  was  easily  perceptible.  But 
the  unflagging  interest  in  everything — all  the  former 
objects  of  work  and  study — the  development  of  the 
Church — this  was,  to  the  casual  observer,  as  strong 
and  bright  as  ever.  The  forming  of  the  Academy 
of  Lutheran  Church  History  was  one  of  the  achieve- 
ments of  his  closing  life  upon  which  he  loved  to  look 
with  commendable  pride.  Some  one,  writing  in  the 
Workman  of  April  25,  1895,  said  of  him:  "  The  most 
prominent  and  most  interesting  figure  at  the  recent 
meeting  of  the  Academy  of  Lutheran  Church  His- 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  367 

tory  in  Philadelphia  was  its  venerable  President, 
Rev.  J.  G.  Morris,  D.  D.,  LL.D.  His  erect  form, 
strong  and  clear  voice,  prompt  and  vigorous  rulings, 
brusque  wit,  intimate  personal  acquaintance  with 
all,  both  young  and  old,  and  complete  devotion  to 
present  interests  of  the  Church,  almost  made  one 
doubt  that  he  could  be  any  other  than  one  whose 
ministerial  activity  was  parallel  to  the  average  of 
those  who  were  present.  But  the  records  show  that 
when  he  was  a  student  the  entire  Lutheran  Church 
in  America  was  no  larger  than  the  number  of  com- 
municants now  enrolled  within  a  radius  of  forty  miles 
from  Philadelphia.  His  memory  goes  back  to  be- 
yond the  formation  of  any  Synod  but  the  Ministerium 
of  Pennsylvania  and  New  York  and  the  Synod  of 
North  Carolina,  and  of  course  that  of  the  General 
Bodies.  Time  seems  after  all  not  to  fly  rapidly  when 
such  vigor  belongs  to  one  who  was  a  leader  in  the 
Church  before  men  who  are  now  decrepit  were 
born. ' ' 

The  summer  of  1895  found  Dr.  Morris  in  poor 
physical  health.  Always  accustomed  to  great  exer- 
tion without  apparent  discomfort,  little  things  easily 
tired  him  now.  But  on  the  2 2d  of  February,  1895, 
he  was  able  to  perform  a  series  of  duties  that  would 
have  taxed  the  strength  of  a  much  younger  man, 
and  then  came  home  and  secured  a  night's  rest  that 
was  as  undisturbed,  sound  and  refreshing  as  that  of 
a  little  child.  The  day  was  spent  in  this  way :  In 
the  morning  Dr.  Morris  attended  the  funeral  of  an 


368  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

old  friend,  and  took  part  in  the  obsequies.  After 
the  funeral  he  went  to  the  Johns  Hopkins  University 
and  participated  in  the  annual  exercises  peculiar  to 
Founder's  Day  at  that  great  institution.  In  the 
afternoon  of  the  same  day  he  was  present  at  and 
took  part  in  a  celebration  at  the  House  of  Refuge, 
a  few  miles  outside  of  the  city,  remaining  nearly  all 
the  afternoon.  After  the  evening  meal  with  his 
family  he  went  to  the  regular  meeting  of  the  So- 
ciety for  the  History  of  the  Germans  in  Maryland, 
presided  at  the  meeting  with  his  accustomed  vigor, 
and  came  home  alone  about  eleven  o'clock,  fresh  and 
apparently  unharmed  by  the  day's  work.  All  this  in 
February  of  the  year  in  which  he  died.  From  that 
time  bodily  vigor  began  to  decline.  Infirmity  of  body 
grew  apace,  and  yet  the  wonderful  brain  remained 
unclouded — wonderfully  active.  The  busy  pen  kept 
moving,  and  columns  of  the  Church  papers  gave  re- 
peated evidence  of  Dr.  Morris'  literary  activity,  even 
on  the  day  that  the  news  of  his  death  flashed  through 
the  Church.  Dr.  Morris  held  a  pen  up  to  the  last. 
The  articles  that  appeared  in  the  Church  papers  in 
October,  1895,  over  the  ever  familiar  letters,  "J. 
G.  M.,"  were  written  by  him,  some  of  them  not 
longer  than  three  weeks  before  his  death.  The 
end  came  painlessly,  at  his  summer  home,  Luther- 
ville,  Md.,  October  10,  1895,  at  11:10  p.  m.  The 
weary  wheels  stood  still.  Nature  gave  up  the  strug- 
gle, and  the  giant  soul  passed  out  of  life  here  to  the 
perfect  life  beyond,  for  which  it  had  been  longing- 
many  weary  years. 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  369 

The  Synod  of  Maryland  was  celebrating  in  Balti- 
more the  75  th  anniversary  of  its  organization  at 
almost  the  precise  moment  of  the  departure  of  its 
oldest  member.  The  President  of  that  Synod,  the 
Rev.  E.  H.  Delk,  in  his  annual  report,  said:  "There 
is  lying  dead  in  our  midst  one  of  the  great  men  of 
our  Synod  and  the  whole  Church.  Rev.  John  G. 
Morris  was  the  nineteenth-century  incarnation  of 
Luther.  His  intellectual  attainments,  his  fine  liter- 
ary taste,  his  virile  temper,  his  wit.  his  indomitable 
energy,  his  warm  and  tenacious  affections,  his  con- 
servation of  our  doctrinal  beliefs,  his  masterful  ad- 
dress, his  large  hope  of  our  denominational  prestige 
and  his  childlike  trust  in  God,  have  left  an  inefface- 
able record  upon  our  synodical  and  church  life.  His 
work  and  spirit  can  never  die." 

On  the  morning  of  October  12,  1895,  after  brief 
services  at  the  Lutherville  home  of  Dr.  Morris,  con- 
ducted by  Rev.  Dr.  Dunbar,  pastor  of  St.  Mark's 
church,  Baltimore,  the  body  was  taken  to  Baltimore, 
where  appropriate  services  were  held  in  the  presence 
of  a  very  large  assemblage  of  friends  and  acquaint- 
ances at  St.  Mark's  church,  of  which  the  family  of 
Dr.  Morris  have  long  been  members,  and  where 
Dr.  Morris  himself  worshiped  during  his  winter 
residence  in  the  city.  The  members  of  the  Synod 
of  Maryland,  which  had  adjourned  for  the  purpose 
of  being  present,  occupied  the  front  pews.  Rev. 
Drs.  Dunbar,  Studebaker  and  Valentine  took  part  in 
the  preliminary  service,  and  addresses  were  deliv- 
'24 


37°  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

ered  by  Rev.  Dr.  Benj.  Sadtler,  Rev.  Dr.  Chas.  S. 
Albert  and  Rev.  O.  C.  Roth.  Rev.  Dr.  Dunbar  closed 
the  service  with  a  few  appropriate  remarks,  and 
borne  by  a  special  train  the  body,  accompanied  by 
representatives  of  the  Synod  of  Maryland  and  the 
family  of  Dr.  Morris,  was  taken  to  York,  Pa.,  and 
there  interred,  according  to  the  request  of  Dr.  Mor- 
ris, beside  the  bodies  of  his  wife  and  daughter.  The 
services  at  the  grave  were  conducted  by  Rev.  Drs. 
Dunbar  and  A.  W.  Lilly. 

This  brief  summary  of  the  closing  scenes  of  so 
useful  and  honored  a  life  will  not  be  complete  if  it 
omits  some  recognition  of  the  kind  words  that  were 
spoken  and  written  and  printed  concerning  a  man 
who  had  hosts  of  friends  in  all  classes,  in  all  sections 
of  the  Church,  that  were  so  dear  to  him.  This  list 
is  well  begun  with  the  words  of  one  who  was  a  long- 
time friend  of  Dr.  Morris,  Hon.  Chas.  A.  Schieren, 
ex-Mayor  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.  Mr.  Schieren  wrote : 
"  I  always  revered  Dr.  Morris  as  one  of  God's 
chosen  men.  His  great  age  seemed  phenomenal; 
his  exuberant  spirit,  ready  wit  and  natural  humor 
made  him  popular,  and  drew  men  to  him.  He  was 
fond  of  young  men.  He  was  possessed  of  good 
sound  common  sense,  and  well  calculated  to  be  a 
leader  and  a  counsellor.  Dr.  Morris  enjoyed  the 
rare  privilege  of  living  to  see  the  fruit  of  his  early 
planting.  He  was  considered  the  Nestor  of  Luther- 
anism  in  Baltimore.  The  marvelous  growth  of  the 
Lutheran  Church  in  Baltimore  is  largely  due  to  his 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  37 1 

energy,  sagacity  and  wise  counsel.  He  believed  in 
pushing  the  work  forward,  and  was  untiring  in  his 
effort  to  accomplish  it.  He  loved  the  Lutheran 
Church,  and  his  name  will  ever  be  connected  with 
that  Church  as  one  of  her  foremost  sons.  His  love 
and  ardent  spirit  will  ever  be  remembered  and  live 
long  in  the  hearts  and  minds  of  the  people  of  the 
Church." 

Dr.  Morris'  best  work  was  along  church  lines,  and 
particularly  Lutheran  lines.  No  man  was  better 
known  than  he  among  the  rank  and  file  of  the  laity. 
The  Synod  of  Maryland  appointed  a  special  commit- 
tee to  prepare  a  memorial  upon  the  death  of  Dr. 
Morris.     It  follows  here : 

IN  MEMORIAM. 

REV.    JOHN  G.    MORRIS,   D.    D. ,    LL.D. 

"  Know  ye  not  that  there  is  a  prince  and  a  great  man  fallen 
this  day  in  Israel?" 

In  the  inscrutable  providence  of  the  all-wise  God 
this  session  of  our  Synod,  as  it  marks  the  rounding 
out  of  three-quarters  of  a  century  of  its  history,  has 
been  impressively  overshadowed  by  the  manifesta- 
tion of  the  Divine  Presence  in  the  closing  of  a  life 
identified  with  its  work  from  its  earlier  years.  In 
the  very  hour  when  we  gathered  to  recall  the  past, 
in  which  he  had  so  prominent  a  part,  the  spirit  of 
John  G.  Morris  passed  serenely  and  calmly  into  the 
eternal  future.  Into  the  music  of  our  anniversary 
joys  came  the  notes  of  the  minor  chord,  not  to  bring 


372  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

discordant  sound,  but  to  make  it  more  sweet  and 
tender  and  rich  and  heavenly. 

With  full  hearts  and  bowed  down  with  sorrow, 
with  a  profound  sense  of  our  loss,  we  yet  reverently 
recognize  the  hand  of  divine  love  in  this  dispensa- 
tion, and  rejoice  in  the  triumph  of  faith  which  sus- 
tained this  servant  of  God  through  his  long  life, 
strengthened  him  in  his  declining  years,  and  made 
him  victor  over  death. 

As  a  Synod  we  desire  to  express  hereby  our  high 
regard  for  the  character  of  him  who  has  thus  been 
summoned  from  among  us.  Rugged  and  sturdy, 
we  were  made  to  feel  again  and  again  the  force  of  a 
sincerity  of  purpose  which  would  not  stop  to  com- 
promise or  hide  itself  under  the  duplicity  of  soft 
words.  To  all  of  us  he  was  a  father,  and  we  have 
often  felt  the  throbbing  of  the  tender  heart  as  with 
cheering  words  he  encouraged  us  in  our  work. 

It  is  only  proper,  too,  that  we  should  give  recog- 
nition to  his  mental  endowments  and  acquirements. 
He  was  indeed  ' '  our  Gamaliel, ' '  at  whose  feet  we 
sat  in  attentive  attitude  as  learners.  A  mind  well 
cultivated  and  stored  with  knowledge  in  many  de- 
partments, he  stood  pre-eminent  among  his  breth- 
ren, and  was  the  intimate  companion  and  associate 
of  scholars. 

Nor  should  we  fail  to  bear  testimony  to  his  service 
to  the  whole  Church.  A  leading  spirit  in  many  of 
her  most  important  enterprises,  the  touch  of  his 
hand   was   felt  upon   all.     A  staunch  Lutheran,  a 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  373 

very  Luther  in  spirit,  his  Church  was  dear  to  him, 
and  its  every  mcvement  was  a  matter  of  concern  to 
him  which  even  old  age  could  not  diminish. 

For  what  he  was  to  us  in  the  Maryland  Synod  it  is 
only  proper  for  us  to  bring  our  special  memorial  of 
loving  esteem.  Ordained  to  the  ministry  in  1826, 
to  this  Synod  belongs  the  honor  of  having  his  name 
enrolled  through  all  his  long  ministry,  reaching  to 
the  eve  of  three  scores  and  ten.  He  was  the  con- 
necting link  with  the  past,  and  at  the  same  time  one 
of  the  most  potent  factors  of  our  present.  He  loved 
his  Synod  as  his  Synod  loved  to  honor  him. 

In  the  deliberations  of  this  body  his  voice  has 
always  been  heard  with  profound  respect.  His 
vacant  chair  no  other  can  fill. 

In  this  solemn  hour,  and  in  the  presence  of  this 
dispensation,  our  hearts  are  tender,  and  we  feel  the 
touch  of  the  divine  finger.  Into  the  silence  of  our 
sorrow  comes  the  summons  to  greater  devotion  and 
more  earnest  consecration  to  the  trust  committed  to 
our  keeping  by  the  fathers  who  are  passing  away. 
We  pray  for  grace  that  in  our  inefficiency  we  may 
be  made  strong  and  faithful.  Our  days  are  num- 
bered. No  man  knows  the  number  of  them.  It  is 
for  us  to  "  do  the  work  of  Him  that  sends  us  while 
it  is  called  to-day. ' ' 

We  do  not  forget  those  whose  less  is  greater  than 
our  own.  Our  hearts  go  out  in  tender  sympathy  to 
those  who  sit  in  sorrow  in  the  home.  We  commend 
the  bereaved  family  to  the  God  of   all  consolation, 


374  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

whose  hand  can  apply  the  balm  of  Gilead  to  the 
bleeding  heart,  whose  grace  is  sufficient  for  us, 
upon  whom  we  may  cast  all  our  cares,  for  He  careth 
for  us.  Respectfully  submitted, 

W.    H.    DUNEAR, 

Chas.  S.  Albert, 
Wm.  H.  Davis. 

One  institution  of  the  Church  appealed  most 
strongly  to  Dr.  Morris;  the  Seminary  at  Gettys- 
burg was  a  source  of  interest  and  anxiety  to  him. 
He  gave  it  his  time  and  his  prayers  and  his  efforts. 
He  loved  it.  The  resolutions  of  the  Faculty  on  his 
death  are  here  recorded: 

"  Whereas,  The  summons  to  depart  and  to  be  with  Christ 
has  come  to  our  venerable  colleague,  the  Rev.  John  Godlove 
Morris,  D.  D.,  LL.D.,  who  for  a  period  of  nearly  seventy  years 
has  been  connected  with  this  Seminary,  having  been  enrolled 
as  a  member  of  the  first  class,  and  having  served  almost  contin- 
uously as  a  director  and  lecturer,  holding  to  the  day  of  his  death, 
at  the  ripe  age  of  ninety-two,  both  positions  with  undiminished 
interest  and  with  unimpaired  faculties ;  and, 

"Whereas,  He  sustained  the  closest  personal  relations  to 
almost  every  professor  of  the  Seminary  from  its  foundation  to 
the  present. 

"  Resolved,  That  in  the  ample  endowments  of  our  late  distin- 
guished colleague,  in  his  scientific  tastes,  his  literary  culture, 
his  voluminous  authorship,  his  biblical  and  theological  learning, 
his  eloquence  in  his  pulpit,  his  devotion  to  the  Church,  his  tire- 
less labors  for  her  educational  institutions,  his  outspoken  love 
for  her  doctrines,  his  exemplification  of  her  life,  his  childlike 
faith,  his  virile  spirit,  tinged  by  kindly  affection  and  sprightly 
humor,  his  sturdy  independence,  united  with  a  sincere  catho- 
licity, his  buoyant  temper,  keeping  his  youth  perennial  and  his 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  375 

versatile  mind  iu  perpetual  activity,  we  recognize  that  extraor- 
dinary combination  of  gifts  and  powers  which  have  challenged 
the  admiration  and  wonder  of  the  entire  Lutheran  Church  and 
left  a  noble  and  ineffaceable  impress  upon  her  history. 

' '  Resolved,  That  we  place  on  record  our  gratitude  to  God  for 
the  uncommon  measure  of  life  and  vigor  by  which  he  was  en- 
abled to  continue  for  so  long  a  period  his  labors  for  the  Church, 
our  appreciation  of  his  great  and  sanctified  personality,  and  of 
his  manifold  services  to  this  institution,  and  our  profound  sor- 
row over  the  void  in  it  left  by  his  decease. 

"Resolved,  That  we  tender  to  the  family  of  the  deceased  our 
heartfelt  condolence,  and  that  a  copy  of  these  resolutions  be 
forwarded  to  their  address. 

The  Board  of  Trustees  of  Pennsylvania  College 
adopted  the  subjoined  resolutions : 

"Whereas,  Since  our  last  meeting  it  has  pleased  God  to 
call  home  at  a  ripe  age  our  venerable  brother,  Rev.  Dr.  John  G. 
Morris,  and  we  desire  to  give  fitting  expression  to  our  sense  of 
his  great  usefulness  and  worth,  and  also  of  the  loss  which  we 
and  the  Church  at  large  have  sustained  by  his  departure.  Now, 
therefore,  be  it 

"Resolved,  1.  That  the  death,  at  the  advanced  age  of  ninety- 
two  years,  of  Dr.  Morris,  the  sole  survivor  of  the  founders  and 
patrons  who  participated  in  the  incorporation  in  1832  of  Penn- 
sylvania College,  is  an  event  well  calculated  to  arrest  the  atten- 
tion of  every  one  bearing  any  relation  to  this  institution.  For 
more  than  half  a  century  we  have  enjoyed  his  devoted  service 
and  profited  by  his  friendly  counsel.  He  alone  of  the  faithful 
band  whose  sagacity  and  zeal  founded  the  College  lived  to  see 
it  attain  the  present  flower  of  its  success. 

"Resolved,  2.  He  was  possessed  of  fine  natural  endowments, 
which  he  enriched  by  extensive  and  varied  culture.  He  invaded 
many  fields  of  knowledge,  and  earned  some  laurels  in  every 
field.  He  was  honored  with  well-merited  titles  and  degrees  at 
the  hands  of  numerous  learned  associations  cf  his  own  and  for- 


376  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

eign  lauds.  The  labor  of  his  love,  however,  was  spent  in  adding 
to  the  store  of  information  relating  to  the  founder  of  the  Church 
of  his  choice  and  the  literature  of  her  sons. 

"Resolved,  3.  Our  sense  of  grief  at  Dr.  Morris'  death  is  miti- 
gated only  by  our  consciousness  of  his  great  usefulness  and 
gratitude  for  his  long  life. 

"We  commend  to  the  divine  care  those  immediately  afflicted 
by  his  demise,  and  tender  to  them  that  measure  of  consolation 
which  our  sympathy  can  afford. 

"S.  D.  SCHMUCKER, 

"W.  H.  Dunbar, 
"  JERE  Care." 

The  General  Council  of  the  Evangelical  Lutheran 
Church  in  North  America  was  in  session  at  Easton, 
Pa.,  at  the  time  of  Dr.  Morris'  decease.  In  that 
body  of  men  there  were  very  many  friends,  warm 
and  life-long,  of  Dr.  Morris.  As  soon  as  the  news 
of  the  sad  event  reached  the  delegates  a  committee 
was  appointed  to  draft  suitable  resolutions,  of  which 
the  following  is  a  copy : 

1 '  Resolved,  That  we  have  learned  with  sorrow  of  the  death  of 
Rev.  J.  G.  Morris,  D.  D.,  LX.D.,  the  personal  friend  of  many 
members  of  this  General  Council,  who  has  filled  so  important  a 
part  in  the  history  of  our  Church  in  this  country ;  that  we  are 
thankful  for  his  preservation  in  active  usefulness  to  an  age  so 
unusual ;  and  that  while  we  rejoice  in  his  distinguished  services 
so  long  continued,  we  deeply  sympathize  with  his  sorrowing 
family  and  friends  in  their  bereavement. 

"Resolved,  That  a  copy  of  this  minute  be  sent  to  his  family. 

"Jos.  A.  Seiss, 
"S.  Laird, 
"A.  Spaeth." 

For  a  number  cf  years  an  informal  association  of 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  377 

the  Lutheran  clergy  of  the  General  Synod  residing 
in  Baltimore  and  vicinity  has  had  semi-monthly 
meetings.  During  the  winter  these  gatherings  were 
at  the  home  of  Dr.  Morris,  the  honored  President. 
He  was  always  fond  ot  such  social  assemblies,  and 
his  death  removed  the  inspiring  spirit  of  the  asso- 
ciation. As  a  very  imperfect  expression  of  appreci- 
ation and  reverence,  as  well  as  of  regret,  the  follow- 
ing was  adopted  by  the  members : 

"  Resolved,  That  as  an  association  we  have  met  with  no  ordi- 
nary loss  in  the  removal  from  us  of  our  '  brother-beloved '  and 
our  honored  President,  Rev.  John  G.  Morris,  D.  D.,  LL,.D. 
Known  so  long  and  so  intimately  by  our  entire  Zion  as  one 
prominent  in  the  councils  and  conduct  of  our  Church,  yet  to  us 
who  met  him  so  frequently  and  knew  him  so  intimately  '  his 
loss  is  the  more  deeply  felt.'  And  more  than  once  have  we,  as 
we  have  come  together,  recalling  his  cheerful,  kindly,  hearty 
interest  in  all  that  pertained  to  us  and  ours,  been  prompted  to 
cry: 

"  '  O,  for  the  touch  cf  a  vanished  hand 
And  the  sound  of  a  voice  that  is  still.' 

"Yet  much  as  we  miss  him,  we  have  reason  for  profound 
gratitude  for  his  long,  honored  and  useful  life.  And  when  it 
drew  near  its  close  he  was  spared  from  pain  and  anguish.  In 
the  evening  of  the  long  day  he 

"  '  But  stepped  out  into  the  shadow, 
The  weary  wheels  of  life  stood  still. 

"We  shall  meet  him  again.  We  shall  know  him  again  It 
were  a  double  grief  if  the  true  hearts  who  loved  us  here  should 
on  the  other  shore  remember  us  no  more.' 

"Dr.  Morris  had  no  guess  for  his  dying  pillow.  He  'knew 
whom  he  believed.'  Our  hearts  hold  to  the  confident  hope  that 
we  shall,  in  the  Church  triumphant,  meet,  greet  and  renew  the 
friendship  and  the  fellowship  here  severed. 


37&  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

"  Our  hearts  go  out  prayerfully  for  those  in  closer  touch  with 
our  brother,  '  fond  friends  '  and  loved  ones.  And  our  prayer  is 
that  the  Infinite  Hand  may  lead  and  keep  them. 

"G.  W.  Miu,er, 
"F.  Ph.  Hennighausen, 
"I.  C.  Burke, 

"Committee.'''' 

One  of  the  subjects  of  study  of  which  Dr.  Morris 
was  especially  fond,  and  to  which  he  devoted  a  very 
great  deal  of  his  leisure  time,  was  entomology. 
His  work  in  this  branch  of  science  has  won  world- 
wide praise  and  recognition.  He  numbered  his 
friends  among  the  foremost  entomologists  of  the 
world.  Upon  information  of  his  death  the  follow- 
ing paper  was  prepared  by  the  Brooklyn  Entomo- 
logical Society: 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Brooklyn  Entomological 
Society  held  Tuesday,  November  5,  1895,  formal 
announcement  was  made  of  the  death  of  Dr.  John 
G.  Morris,  an  honorary  member. 

Of  the  members  present  several  spoke  of  the  work 
done  by  him  in  the  Lepidoptera  in  the  early  days 
of  entomological  science  in  the  United  States,  and 
others  of  pleasant  personal  recollections.  Upon 
motion  it  was  unanimously 

"Resolved,  That  in  the  death  of  Dr.  John  G.  Morris  the 
society  loses  an  honored  member,  upon  whom  we  all  looked 
with  love  and  regard ;  that  Entomology,  and  especially  Lepi- 
dopterology,  loses  its  pioneer  in  the  United  States,  whose  work, 
when  work  was  difficult,  lightened  the  burdens  of  others,  and 
formed  a  foundation  upon  which  they  builded. 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  379 

"  Re 'solved ',  That  this  memorial  be  spread  upon  the  minutes 
of  the  society,  and  that  a  copy  of  it  be  transmitted  to  his  repre- 
sentatives. 

"John  B.  Smith,  President. 

u  Geo.  D.  Hulst,  Rec.  Sec. 

"Archibald  C.  Weeks,  Cor.  Sec." 

The  entire  active  life  of  Dr.  Morris  may  be  said 
to  have  been  spent  in  the  city  of  Baltimore,  to  which 
he  came  in  1826,  a  young  minister.  He  became 
prominently  identified  with  many  public  enterprises, 
and  especially  with  those  of  a  scientific  as  well  as  of 
a  philanthropic  character.  One  of  the  first  sort  was 
the  Maryland  Academy  of  Sciences,  which  took  the 
appended  action  on  the  death  of  Dr.  Morris: 

"  At  a  meeting  of  the  Maryland  Academy  of  Sci- 
ences held  November  4,  1895,  upon  motion  of  Rev. 
Geo.  A.  Leakin,  it  was  unanimously  resolved  that  a 
committee  of  three  members,  of  whom  the  President 
should  be  chairman,  be  appointed  to  prepare  resolu- 
tions of  respect  to  the  memory  of  Rev.  John  G. 
Morris,  D.  D.,  a  President  and  one  of  the  founders 
of  the  Academy. ' ' 

"The  committee  therefore  submit:  That  in  the 
death  of  our  respected  and  beloved  President,  the 
Reverend  Doctor  John  G.  Morris,  the  Academy  de- 
plores the  loss  of  one  who  in  the  vigor  of  his  man- 
hood was  one  of  the  chief  promoters  and  friends  of 
the  institution. 

As  one  of  its  founders  he  engaged  with  earnest 
self-sacrifice  in  every  measure  calculated  to  advance 


380  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

its  welfare.  During-  many  years  he  was  a  regular 
attendant  at  the  meetings,  and  his  genial  remarks 
and  eloquent  addresses  always  contributed  to  the 
interest  and  pleasure  of  these  occasions.  His  kind- 
ness of  heart  and  willing  helpfulness  were  recognized 
and  appreciated  by  all  the  members  who  knew  him. 
As  an  observer  of  natural  objects  he  was  most  assid- 
uous and  painstaking,  and  by  constant  activity  he 
accumulated  vast  stores  of  information  relative  to 
the  insects,  animalcules  and  plants  which  occur  in 
the  neighborhood  of  his  home  at  Lutherville.  Other 
institutions  and  societies  have  dwelt  upon  his  ability 
and  acquirements  as  theologian,  scholar  and  histor- 
ian. It  is  ours  to  recognize  his  value  as  scientist 
and  writer  upon  natural  history.  In  this  depart- 
ment he  will  continue  to  be  best  known  as  the  author 
of  the  '  Synopsis  of  the  Described  Lepidoptera  of 
North  America,'  and  a  'Catalogue  of  the  same,' 
published  by  the  Smithsonian  Institution. 

' '  He  was  also  a  member  of  many  scientific  socie- 
ties, both  in  this  country  and  Europe,  and  in  none 
was  his  presence  more  highly  appreciated  than  in  our 
well-known  American  Association  for  the  Advance- 
ment of  Science.  His  friendship  was  valued  by  such 
men  as  Silliman,  Agassiz  and  Henry,  and  he  was 
welcomed  by  the  most  eminent  scientific  minds  of 
Europe  and  America.  It  rarely  falls  to  the  lot  of  a 
man,  however  gifted,  to  have  lived  so  long  and  ex- 
perienced so  much  in  all  that  is  high  and  best,  and 
to  have  left  such  a  wide  impression  for  good  in  a 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  381 

rapidly  growing  community,  as  our  deceased  friend. 
His  whole  life  spans  the  greater  part  of  a  century, 
and  leaves  behind  a  precious  legacy  of  good  example 
worthy  of  perpetual  remembrance." 

As  already  told  in  this  book,  Dr.  Morris  was  one 
of  those  actively  interested  in  securing  the  magnifi- 
cent statue  of  Luther  that  adorns  the  Capital  of  the 
United  States.  The  Luther  Statue  Association  has 
placed  the  following  tribute  to  his  memory  on 
record: 

"  The  Rev.  Dr.  Morris,  whose  Lutheran  and  Christian  loyalty 
has  been  so  conspicuous  and  consistent  for  so  many  years, 
reflecting  honor  upon  the  Lutheran  Church,  and  always  exalt- 
ing the  Christ  whom  he  served,  born  in  the  third  year  of  the 
century  now  closing,  lived  until  October,  1895,  retaining  to  the 
very  closing  months  of  his  long,  brilliant  and  useful  life  the  full 
vigor  of  his  robust  and  well-rounded  manhood.  Distinguished 
alike  in  the  world  of  letters  and  of  science,  but  always  exalting 
Luther  and  'the  Name  that  is  above  every  name,'  he  has  left 
upon  the  generations  whom  he  survived,  as  upon  the  generation 
that  now  survives  him,  an  imperishable  record  of  labor  and  faith 
in  the  gospel." 

A  very  marked  characteristic  of  Dr.  Morris  was 
his  interest  in  the  young.  Young  people,  especially 
children,  were  a  source  of  great  concern.  His  heart 
was  full  of  tenderness  for  the  growing  generation, 
whose  laudable  efforts  he  frequently  applauded, 
while  he  discouraged  and  despised  anything  that 
had  the  appearance  of  meanness  or  deceit.  It  was 
this  trait  that  drew  young  people  to  him,  and  none 
more  so  than  the  members  of  that  unfortunate  class 


382  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

who,  often  lacking  the  correcting  influence  of  par- 
ental love,  became,  temporarily,  wards  of  the  city 
and  State.  For  many  years  Dr.  Morris  was  one  of 
the  Board  of  Managers  of  the  House  of  Refuge,  a 
reformatory  for  boys,  in  the  city  of  Baltimore,  and 
after  his  death  the  following  action  was  taken  by 
the  Board: 

"At  a  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Managers  of  the  House  of 
Refuge,  held  this  nth  day  of  October,  1895,  the  following  was 
unanimously  passed : 

"Whereas,  In  the  dispensation  of  an  all-wise  Providence, 
it  has  pleased  his  Creator  to  remove  from  amongst  us  our  late 
beloved  associate,  Rev.  John  Godlove  Morris,  who,  like  a  sheaf 
of  wheat  fully  ripe,  has  been  gathered  to  the  harvest,  it  behooves 
us,  his  late  colleagues  and  friends,  to  give  expression  to  our  sor- 
row and  regret  at  the  sad  bereavemeut ;  be  it,  therefore, 

"Resolved,  That  in  the  death  of  Rev.  John  G.  Morris  we 
recognize  the  great  loss  sustained,  not  only  by  the  managers 
and  inmates  of  the  House  of  Refuge,  but  by  the  community  at 
large,  of  which  he  has  been  for  so  many  years  a  conspicuous 
and  useful  member. 

"Resolved,  That  with  a  sturdy  independence  of  spirit,  inher- 
ited from  his  Revolutionary  ancestors,  he  combined  a  gentle 
and  kindly  heart,  always  awake  to  the  impulses  of  charity  and 
humanity,  and  so  lived  that  his  words,  acts  and  walk  in  life 
were  a  complete  demonstration  of  that  noblest  work  of  God — 
an  honest  man  and  a  Christian  gentleman. 

"Resolved,  That  as  a  profound  scholar,  a  liberal  and  devout 
theologian  and  pastor,  Dr.  Morris  has  left  his  mark  upon  the 
record  of  his  times,  and  his  death  has  left  a  void  in  the  many 
circles  in  wmich  he  moved  that  will  be  long  felt  and  difficult  to 
fill.  '  Blessed  are  the  dead  which  die  in  the  Lord  from  hence- 
forth ;  yea,  saith  the  Spirit,  that  they  may  rest  from  their  labors, 
and  their  works  do  follow  them.' 


AN    OLD    LUTHERAN    MINISTER.  583 

"  Resolved,  That  this  testimonial  of  respect  to  his  memory  be 
inscribed  upon  our  records,  and  a  copy  be  forwarded  to  the 
family  of  the  deceased,  and  published  in  the  papers  of  this  city. 

"Joshua  Levering,  President. 

"Maurice  Laupheimer,  Secretary." 

At  the  regular  monthly  meeting  of  the  Society  for 
the  History  of  the  Germans  in  Maryland,  held 
November  19,  1895,  after  a  number  of  appropriate 
addresses  on  the  part  of  members,  all  eulogistic  of 
their  late  President,  Rev.  John  G.  Morris,  D.  D., 
LL.  D. ,  the  following  resolutions  were  adopted  by  a 
rising  vote : 

"Whereas,  It  has  pleased  Almighty  God,  our  heavenly 
Father,  in  His  wise  providence,  to  remove  from  our  midst,  to 
His  eternal  home,  our  late  venerable  President,  Rev.  John 
Gottlieb  Morris,  D.  D.,  Uv.D. 

'■'Resolved,  That  whilst  we  mourn  and  deplore  our  loss,  we 
record  our  gratitude  that  he  was  spared  so  long  beyond  the 
usual  allotment  of  human  life  to  adorn  a  career  of  signal  use- 
fulness as  the  Christian  pastor,  the  student  of  science  and  of 
historical  research,  the  prolific  author,  the  sincere  philanthro- 
pist, the  trusty  citizen,  and  the  tender  and  genial  friend. 

"  Resolved,  That  he  had  especially  endeared  himself  to  us,  as 
an  organization,  for  his  deep  and  abiding  interest  in  all  our 
pursuits  and  aims,  and  that  as  the  descendant  from  an  honor- 
able and  worthy  German  parentage,  he  not  only  had  a  just  pride 
in  that  fact,  but  that  he  cherished  with  a  deep  and  personal 
gratification  whatever  he  could  discover  of  honorable  or  heroic 
conduct,  or  of  eminence  in  art  or  science  or  literature,  in  any 
that  bore  the  German  name,  especially  in  those  that  were  citi- 
zens, by  birth  or  adoption,  in  our  own  beloved  city  and  State. 

"Resolved,  That  this  record  of  our  appreciation  of  his  worth 
be  entered  upon  our  minutes,  and  that  an  engrossed  copy  be 


384  LIFE    REMINISCENCES    OF 

given  to  his  bereaved  family,  with  the  assurance  of  our  sincerest 

sympathy  with  them  in  their  sorrow. 

"B.  Sadtxer, 
"Chas.  Raddatz, 
"Otto  Fuchs, 

"  Committee.'''' 

Words  of  sympathy  and  of  appreciation  were  not 
wanting-  from  many  all  over  the  Church  and  beyond. 
In  addition  to  the  resolutions  given  above,  similar 
action  was  taken  by  the  Lutheran  Ministerial  Asso- 
ciation of  York,  Pa. ,  by  various  conferences  of  the 
Synod  of  Maryland  and  of  other  Synods;  religious 
and  secular  newspapers  contained  more  or  less  ex- 
tended notices  and  reminiscences,  and  there  was  a 
general  and  generous  outpouring  of  sorrow  at  the 
death  of  one  of  whom  it  was  said  "  How  hard  it  is  to 
realize  that  he  is  gone.  How  much  we  shall  miss 
him.     There  is  no  one  left  to  take  his  place. ' ' 


INDEX. 


A 

Academic  Gown,  The 46 

Academy,  York  Co., 11,  12,  14 

"       centennial  of 14 

of  Lutheran  Church  History 366 

Additions  to  our  Church 99,  121 

Albert,  Chas.  S.,  D.  D., 160,  312 

Alexander,  Dr 63 

American    Association   for  the  Advancement  of  Science, 

84,  131,  169,  171 

Amusements,  boyish 15,  16 

An  actor's  criticism !94 

Anglicised  Germans 99,  119 

Anonymous  letters 205 

Anstadt,  P.,  D.  D I58 

Anti-Popery I28 

Appold,  Samuel    .... 353 

Armand,  Colonel 8 

1 '        letter  from 9 

B 

Bachmau,  Rev.  Dr !68 

Bacon,  Samuel I2 

Bad  treatment ^8 

Baltimore,  call  to 97 

first  communion  at 103 

25  (385) 


$86  INDEX. 

Baltimore,  first  sermon  at 97 

"          friends  in 98 

"          ministers,  congratulations  of 362 

opposition  in 98,  99 

"          pastoral  life  at 108 

Baltimore  County  Historical  Society,  President  of  the  .  .    .  354 

Baltimore  papers,  notices  of  birthday  celebrations  in  .    .    .  362 

Bancroft,  George 321 

Barclay,  Joseph,  D.  D 155 

Battalion  days 22 

Baugher,  Sr.,  Dr 308 

Baugher,  H.  L.,  D.  D.,  letter  from 364 

Bentz,  John  A 122 

Bethune,  Rev.  G.  W.  .    . 41 

Bible  Society  Agent no 

Birthday  celebrations,  some  of  J.  G.  M.'s 361 

Birth,  place  and  date  of 7 

Bishop,  Rev.  H 158 

Book  of  Concord 54 

Books,  gifts  of 325 

Boudinot,  Elias 8 

Boyish  dress 21 

Breckenridge,  John 127 

Breckenridge,  Robt.  J 127 

Brown,  J.  A.,  D.  D 157,  315 

Buchanan,  James,  favor  asked  of 32 

Buchanan,  Win 32 

Burial 369 

Burke,  Rev.  I.  C 159 

Burr,  Aaron 84 

Busy  day,  a • 367 

Burning  old  sermons •  109 

c 

Call  to  the  ministry 46 

Chapel  on  the  Belair  road,  the 179 


INDEX.  387 

Christlieb,  Dr 310,  353 

Church  and  prayer-meetiug 5 

Cincinnati,  the  Society  of  the 8 

Cline,  John  P 55,  56 

Clutz,  J.  A.,  D.  D 160 

College  friendships 30 

College  slang  phrases <. 31 

College  tricks  and  jokes 27,  33,  34 

Conrad,  F.  W.,  D.  D 315 

Conversational  Club,  the no,  in 

Correspondence  at  home 208 

Correspondence,  church 205 

private 206 

"  scientific  and  literary 207 

Correspondents,  Foreign 205 

Count  Castelnau 173 

Courtesy,  ministerial 114 

Curious  wedding  event 339 

Cuyler,  Rev.  Dr.,  anecdote  of 164 

D 

Dalrymple,  Rev.  Dr 131 

Dancing 15 

Death 368 

Delk,  Rev.  E.  H.,  words  of 369 

Demme,  Dr 47 

Diary,  keeping  a 38 

Dickinson  College,  life  at 40 

"  "         fellow  classmates 40,41 

"  "        professors 41,  42 

"        speeches 45 

Difficulties 138 

Dunbar,  W.  H.,  D.  D 160 

Duncan,  Rev.  J.  M 126 


388  INDEX. 

E 

Election  of  Gettysburg  Professors  and  Presidents 306 

English  Lutheran  churches  in  Baltimore 161 

"             "           ministers  in  Baltimore     ........  153 

"             "           churches  in  the  United  States 116 

Evans,  Rev.  W.  P 160 

Evidences  of  Christianity,  sermons  on 125 

Ewing,  Rev.  C.  H 156 

Examination  for  licensure 85 

Excursion  to  Watkins  Glen,  N.  Y 317,  3*8 

"          to  Wheeling  and  Pittsburg 321 

F 

Faculty  of  the  Chicago  Seminary,  congratulations  from  .    .  364 

Faculty  of  the  Gettysburg  Seminary,  congratulations  from.  364 

Fairs 22,  23 

Families  leaving  my  church 143 

Feltou,  Rev.  E 160 

Female  Academy  in  Hagerstown,  Md.,  the 155 

First  corner-stone •  133 

First  Church,  Baltimore,  history  of 100 

First  sermon  in  York,  Pa.,  my 87 

Foreign  correspondents 205 

Foreign  scientists •    •  17° 

French  and  German,  studying 21 

Fuller,  Dr 139 

Funeral  sermons 124 

Funeral  services  of  J.  G.  M 369 

G 

General  Synod  at  Charleston,  S.  C,  the 168 

"             "      "  Frederick,  Md.,  the 70 

"             "     President  of  the 352 

"             "     Secretary  of  the «  352 

German  professors <>    *  3TI 


INDEX.  389 

Gettysburg  College,  lecturer  on  Zoology  at 353 

Gettysburg  Theological  Seminary,  bequests  to 315 

"  Board,  adjourned  meeting  of 308 

"  collecting  funds  for 312 

"  director  of  . 193,  352 

"  fellow  students  at , 88,  89 

lectures  at 170,  353 

"  opposition  to 94 

"  professor  at  .  . 352 

student  life  at 88,  89 

"  theological  course  at 93 

Gilman,  President  D.  C 366 

Giving  offence  unintentionally 332 

Goering,  Rev.  Jacob,  baptized  by 10 

Good  day's  work,  a 367 

Graves,  Rev.  U 159 

Green,  Dr.,  President  of  Princeton  College 29 

Gustiniani,  Rev.  Dr 161 

H 

Haldeman,  Prof.  S.  S 169,  208 

Hamma,  M.  W.,  D.  D 156,  310 

Hay,  Chas.  A.,  D.  D 134 

Hazelius,  Dr 307,  308 

Hefelstein,  Rev.  A.  ........ 129 

Heiner,  Rev 129 

Henkel  family,  the 53 

Henry,  Prof.,  letter  from 187 

"     trip  with 321 

Hersh,  Rev.  Chas.  H 157 

Heyer,  Rev.  F 161 

Historical  Society,  the  Baltimore  County 354 

"  "  the  German 354 

"  "  President  of  the  Maryland    • 354 

"             "           Vice  President  of  the  Maryland  .    .    .    .    354 
"  "  Librarian  of  the  Maryland 354 


39°  INDEX. 

Hodge,  Prof.  A.  A.  .    . 73 

Home  Mission  Spirit,  the 80 

Honoriad 33 

Hoshour,  Rev.  S.  K 55 

House  of  Refuge,  the 365 

House  robbed 338 

I 

Impulsive  Minister,  an 132 

Inspector  Hoffman 206 

J 

Johns  Hopkins  University,  studies  at  the 170 

K 

Keller,  Rev.  B 43,  312 

Kemp,  Dr.  Wm.  M 112 

Kind  treatment  of  boys 23 

Kossuth  in  Baltimore 340 

address  of  city  clergy  to 341 

reply  of 343 

Kostliu's  Life  of  Luther 334 

Krauth,  C.  P.,  D.  D 156 

"       St.,  C.  P.,  D.  D 133,  323 

Kuhlman,  Rev.  L 157 

Kurtz,  B.,  D.  D 129,  153,  188 

"           "       abroad 313 

"           "       collecting  funds  for  the  Seminary  ....  312 

Kurtz,  J.  Daniel,  D.  D 99,  121 

L 

Last  articles  of  J.  G.  M.  in  the  church  papers 367 

Last  days  of  J.  G.  M 361 

Learned  societies,  membership  in 359 

Lectures,  list  of 198 


INPEX. 


391 


Lecture  platform,  the 197 

Letters  of  congratulation ,    364 

Leyburn,  Rev.  Dr 126 

Library,  my  own 109,  324 

Licensed  to  preach 85 

Lilly,  A.  W..  D.  D 158,  369 

Lincoln,  B 8 

Lind,  Jenny 316 

Linnsean  Society,  founder  and  president  of  the 353 

List  of  Lutheran  publications 347 

Liturgical  movement,  opposition  to  the ..116 

Lord's  Supper,  Lutheran  doctrine  of  the 49 

Loyal  ministers  during  the  rebellion 330 

"  "         resolutions  offered  by 330 

Lutheran  Observer,  early  history  of  the 149 

"  "        editorship  of  the 151 

"  "        name  of  the 150 

"  "         "New  Measures"  in  the 146 

Lutheran  faith,  peculiarities  of  the 49 

Lutherville,  Md.,  chapel  at 180,  190 

"  "      country  home  at 188 

"      life  at 190 

"      recreation  at 189 

M 

McCron,  J.,  D.  D 154,  178 

McCrosky,  Bishop  S.  R 45 

McKuight,  H.  W.,  D.  D 311 

Magee,  I.,  D.  D 157 

Marriage 113 

Maryland  Academy  of  Science 322 

"  "  "      President  of  the 352 

Mason,  J.  M.,  D.  D 40,  42 

Mayer,  Brantz 316,  321 

Melsheimer,  Dr.  E.  F 208 

Microscopy 173 


392  INDEX. 

Military  ardor 19 

Miller,  G.  W.,  D.  D 157 

Ministers  leaving  our  Church 120 

Moravian  character  and  piety 66 

"         customs 68 

Morris,  Chas.  A 39,  87,  353 

MSS 357 

Music 19 

Myers,  Barbara 9 

N 

Natural  History 172 

Prof,  of 352 

Nazareth,  life  at 65 

New  Market,  Va.,  fellow  students  at 55 

"                 "     list  of  books  read  at 59 

"                 "     Lutheran  church  at 51 

"                 "     other  churches  at 51 

"                 "    preaching  at 57 

"                 "    recreatious  at  .' .  61 

11                 "    student  life  at 51 

o 

Offices  held 351 

Ordination 117 

Original  works 355 

Our  Church  Paper 54,  165 

Outside  work  by  our  clergy 124 

P 

Pamphlets 356 

Papers  read  before  Historical  Societies  in  Maryland    .    .    .  358 

Parents 7,  9 

"     father  died 9 

"       life  of 10 


index.  393 

Parents,  mother  pious .  10 

"         "       beautiful 10 

"     other  children  of n 

Passavaut,  W.  A.,  D.  D 157 

Peabody  Institute,  lectures  at  the 192 

"  "        librarian  of  the 176,  181 

"        prejudice  against  the 182 

"        trustee  of  the 1 80,  353 

"                "        unpleasant  experience  at  the 184 

Pearce,  Senator 31 

Personal  religion 44 

Plummer,  Rev.  Wm.  S 83 

Pocket  money  for  boys 20 

Princeton  College,  class  rank  at 27 

"                "        college  rebellion  at 27 

"                "        contemporaries  at 30 

"                "        declamation  at 37 

"                "        entrance  examinations  at 26 

"                "        member  of  American  Whig  Society  at  .  26 

"                "        rival  societies  at 38 

"                "        room-mate  at 28 

"                 "        social  intercourse  at 34 

"                "        student  life  at 25 

"                 "        style  of  religion  at 35 

Princeton  Theological  Seminary,  life  at 72 

"                    "                  "        matrimonial  views  at    .    .  79 

"  "  "        professors  at 74,  75 

"                    "                  "        studies  at 73 

"  "  "        theological  views  and  dis- 

cussions at  ....  74,  75,  76 

Private  libraries 322 

Private  prayer-meetings 112 

Published  writings  and  MSS 355 


394  INDEX. 

R 

Reader,  career  as  a 191 

Reading,  early  fondness  for 16 

"        character  of  early 17 

Rebellion,  the 325 

Religion,  emotional        122 

Remarkable  conversion,  a 140 

Remarkable  pause,  a 63 

Resignation  as  pastor,  my 176 

Resolutions  of  the  Baltimore  Lutheran  clergy 377 

"  "       Board   of  Managers    of   the  House  of 

Refuge,  Baltimore ,  382 

"             "       Brooklyn  Entomological  Society  ....  378 

"             "       Faculty  of  the  Gettysburg  Seminary  .    .  374 

"             "       General  Council 376 

"             "       Luther  Statue  Association 381 

"             "       Maryland  Academy  of  Science 379 

"  "      Society  for  the  History  of  the  Germans 

in  Maryland 383 

"             "       Synod  of  Maryland 371 

"             "      Trustees  of  Gettysburg  College    ....  375 

Ritchie,  Judge  Albert ,   .    .   .   .  365 

s 

Sadtler,  B.,  D.  D 50 

Saint  Mark's  church,  Baltimore 159,  178,  180 

Saint  Matthew's  church,  Philadelphia,  invited  to  preach  at.  76 

Saint  Paul's  church,  Baltimore 160 

Schaeffer,  C.  F.,  D.  D 162 

Schieren,  Hon   C.  A 370 

Schmucker,  B.  M.,  D.  D 324 

"          Rev.  George 56 

J.  G.,  D.  D 13,  49,  72 

S.  S.,  D.  D 13 

"                    "        call  to  New  Market,  Va 14 


INDEX. 


395 


Schmucker,  S.  S.,  D.  D.  estimate  of 50,  94,  95,  312 

"        first  professor   at   the  Gettysburg 

Seminary 14,  307 

"  "        student  under 48 

"  "        theological  views  of 50 

Scholl,  George,  D.  D 157 

School,  first 11 

Scientific  studies  and  offices 165 

Scientists,  congratulations  of 364 

"  American 171 

11  foreign 170 

Scrap  books 357 

Scrap  book  collections   • 162 

Second  church,  Baltimore,  the 156 

Seiss,  J.  A.,  D.  D 156 

Sheeleigh,  M.,  D.  D 324 

Shulze,  Bishop 64 

Sickness 361 

Society   for  the  History   of  the   Germans   in   Maryland, 

President  of  the    «  „       354 

Society  for  the  History  of  the  Germans  in  Maryland,  papers 

read  before  the 359 

Sons  of  the  American  Revolution,  Society  of  the    ....  8,  365 

Smithsonian  Institute,  the 173,  175,  198 

Sprecher,  Rev.  S 158 

Stein,  James 12 

Stork,  Chas.  A.,  D.  D 160,  309 

Stork,  T.,  D.  D., 154,  155 

Strecker,  Herman 171 

Studebaker,  A.  H.,  D.  D 156 

Students  at  my  house 134 

Swartz,  J.,  D.  D 157 

T 
Teaching c    .....    .    136 

Theological  Seminary  at  Columbus,  O.,  donation  to  the  .  .    313 


396  INDEX. 

Third  church,  Baltimore,  the 157,  178 

Thompson,  John  R 181 

Townsend,  Jos.  K 173 

Translations 355 

Trip  up  the  Hudson,  a 84 

Troublesome  members 142 

Trowbridge,  Rev.  Chas.  R.   .   . 160 

Tyson,  Philip 131 

V 

Valentine,  M.,  D.  D 310 

Vethake,  Prof. 40,  42 

Visits  of  foreigners 349 

w 

Washington,  President  George 8 

Weddell,  Rev.  J.  A 161 

Week-da5^  services 133 

Wolf,  E.  J.,  D.  D 157 

Workman,  tribute  in  the 366 

z 

Ziegler,  Rev.  D 169 


DATE  DUE                           J 

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